On the Water

Although the wind was swirling around, the threatening clouds stayed away for last week’s Whitsunday Sailing Club twilight race, providing challenging conditions for those who ventured out to sea. This week’s fleet count was 14 boats with a total crew list of 82 sailors.

A competitive starting line in Division 2 saw several boats vying for the Doyle Sails sponsored best start prize, with the final judgement going to Smooth Criminal (Leo Rodriguez) by the smallest of margins from Wide Load (Shannan Hart) and Reignition (Charles Wallis).  

While Smooth Criminal held the lead on the water throughout the race, they were pushed all the way by QMS Ponyo (John Galloway) and Reignition, with just 15 seconds separating 1st and 2nd at the finish.  

A lonely race for Treasure VIII (Rob Davis) in fourth as the first three boats were just too fast, but they had a break over the rest of the fleet. On corrected time, however, Reignition took the honours with just 4 seconds separating Twister (Kevin Fogarty) in second and QMS Ponyo in third.

A strong start by Wobbly Boot (Craig Piccinelli) saw them leading the way to the first mark, along with Aquatarius (Tom Parker) and Shiraz (John Cable).  

By the end of the first lap, Aquatarius held the lead, finally crossing the finishing line 20 seconds ahead. The real action was further back, with Rossgo (Greg Hammon), Lighthorse (Di Forster) and Masquerade (Tom Vujasinovic) in close proximity.  

When it came to the corrected time results, Lama (Heather Sutton), the slowest boat on the water, took the honours by just 1 second from Aquatarius, while third placed Shiraz was only 4 seconds behind.

Full results are available online. Races start from 4:30pm each Wednesday afternoon, so those wishing to participate as crew need to be at the club by 3:00pm.

Contributed by Ross Chisholm.

Rossgo and Lighthorse Battling for Position

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