We’re on our way
Race one goes off in fine classic yacht racing style
Classic yachts and newly shorn sheep
Yessir, those classic yachts were sure a frisky lot when let out of their marina pens for the opening race of the classic Yacht racing summer series.
Dragging classics back to the start line, handing out OCS calls, like confetti, to those full of good intent, was the scene for the opening race of our Sayonara Summer Series.
Watching our classic fleet in pre opening race mode gave rise to the memories rounding of up freshly shorn sheep after a dipping trough swim.
Anxious “Is it on or off ?” calls
With a couple of anxious light wind based calls to the race tower on a race/no race question the course selection debate was over. When your race officer team set out on their crossing the Delaware voyage it was to be a northerly course. However like our Melbourne weather wait awhile and the Bureau prediction will happen. So wait awhile it there it was, a swinging four knot westerly was in it’s way. Our went the course selection call and it was count down to 10:25 time.
Line and corrected time honours down the fleet comments
Boambillee cleans up
First up it’s congratulations to the Boambillee crew under the helm of George Fisscher.
After a demonstrating her neat wind shift picking performance to lead the fleet around the R3 mark Boambillee went on to lead the fleet home with a handsome corrected time margin.
Another fine non spinnaker performance was put in by Pastime II. All things considered her performance on the day that gave her second placing on corrected time was notable.
Avian leads the Tumlaren fleet home
In the Tumlaren world, Avian’s light weather performance with that great man on the helm was closely watched. The race tower comments watching her round the R3 mark were “surely the handicapper must see this one” as she lead the Tumlaren fleet home with a third on corrected time performance. Her shy kite holding performance was noted.
Acrospire III the picture of the fleet
With her full rig flying, Acrospire III gave the fleet the opportunity to watch a command performance as she took all the wind shifts to make the weather mark as though she was a high pointing light displacement go faster. Check out the picture she presented to the fleet in the race one gallery.
Spectators thrill at the Fairwinds, Mercedes IV and Akala for the line battle
In the race tower it was catch your breath time before Fairwinds steamed through after her intense down hill running battles with Mercedes IV and Akala.
Perhaps the most intense part of the race was the Mark G rounding and down to the battles to the line between these three classics. Fairwinds was able to clear out as Akala pushed Mercedes IV up as a tactic to keep clear of the Mercedes IV wind shadow. It worked but come the finish line and Akala had to concede and head down which allowed Mercedes IV to take off to cross the line by thirteen seconds over Akala.
Dingo in the ruck.
Leading this ruck of the fleet home on corrected time was the Tumlaren Dingo. After holding on to the her kite as long as possible to keep ahead of Ettrick at the Mark G rounding it was a down to wire chase with both Ettrick and the netboat Jean. However the run to the line didn’t favour Dingo.
Ettrick heads off Dingo and Jean
As Ettrick cleared out to lead Jean home by sixteen seconds and Dingo by twenty seven seconds. Another impressive finish line battle scene was that between Dingo and Jean. It was down to the last 50 metres. Jean found some good wind and sailed though Dingo was sailed in a most impressive hard eyed manner by Monica Jones, Jean had an eleven second lead across the line. The race officer’s voice record of this performance would have put that well known race caster Bert Bryant to shame.
Will they or wont they? A Cyan and Marama story
Another will they or won’t they do it story was the finishing line scene between Cyan and Marama. It was tight all the way till the last moment which saw Cyan put seventeen seconds between herself and Marama as she crossed the line. There was defiantly no one jumping around on Cyan as Peter Lloyd held tight control over that finely fitted out and loquacious Cyan crew.
Yvonne makes up ground
The Tumlaren Yvonne followed this duo of classic yachts over the line. All things considered Yvonne’s elapsed time performance was notable when considering the extra ground she covered in the light breeze.
Martini sails hard
After some hard downwind under kite sailing seen on Martini, her finishing time, when considering her water line length, was notable. A stiff note to the handicapper is the word here. Some nice pics of her with the fleet while going down wind and going for the line will show how hard she was sailed by Michael Williams.
Merlin and Tandanya. Say no more
Another pair of closely watched classics were Merlin and Tandanya. While we know light winds aren’t execrate the conditions they revel in they still put in a creditable performance considering the conditions. The bow wave on Merlin as she crossed the finish line was outstanding.
Sail of the day performance
All up that was the story for our first race of the Sayonara Summer Series. Across the fleet we had some brilliant classic yacht racing particularly those close across the finish line performances. Stirring stuff is the words need to describe these scenes. For those scribblers of the press, the handicapper recommendations of the sail of the day must go to Merlin and Tandanya for their light wind performances. To see them so close to the fleet after the down hill run drew many race tower compliments.
Race one photo gallery credits.
To finish up compliments must go to our team of photo contributors. From the race committee boat we had a serious slew of them from Dave Taylor while Ashley Sharples gave us some brilliant classic yacht racing scenes as seen form the cockpit of Mercedes IV. Scott McDonald a consistent providor of classic yacht racing images as seen from Pastime II maintained his record.
See the Race 1 Photo Gallery.
Race one Photo Gallery posting
Thanks to Steve Hollowood, our on the ball website admin , the web site Summer Series page will have links to this gallery.
Race Management moments
From the Race management side of the fence we had Peter Bowie as deckie in chief assisting Dave Taylor of the RMYS on the William Paterson and Chris Crellin is still searching for the smelling salts after another stint of handling more than his fair share race officer fun filled dramas.
For action seekers only
For those who want some real action in their lives, we’ll need someone to help out as deckie on the rescue boat and the some one to control the race officer.
Next classic yacht race
This coming Sunday 15th October at RMYS.
The entry list is all done and posted on the RMYS Top Yacht classic race results portal.
Access to the RMYS facilities will be fun with the Melbourne Marathon in full swing. We’ll put our some prerace notes next Friday
ALWAYS ROOM FOR ONE MORE
2023 Cup Regatta
Start your participation in the social events.
Regards to all
Peter Costolloe
CYAA (Vic) Handicapper
Print version, Race 1 post-race notes – 2023/24 Sayonara Summer Series (pdf)
