On The Water With Whitsunday Sailing Club

A light south easterly breeze greeted the 16 boats in last week’s Whitsunday Sailing Club twilight race conducted on the waters of Pioneer Bay.

Flat water and a shifting breeze made for great racing for all competitors.

First away was Division Two, with eight boats participating, with plenty of action on the starting line as the boats jostled for the best starting position.  

QMS Ponyo (John Galloway) was deemed to have made the best start, taking the Doyle Sails sponsored best start prize.

With the shifting breeze, placings changed frequently as they approached the first buoy, with Reignition (Charles Wallis) leading Smooth Criminal (Leo Rodriguez) around the buoy.  

Bobby’s Girl (Mark Beale) made a slow start, as did Treasure VIII (Rob Davis), both playing catch up as the race progressed.  

Racing was close for much of the race, with Smooth Criminal first to cross the finishing line, also taking out the corrected time win over Reignition and Twister (Kevin Fogarty).

Division Three saw Masquerade (Tom Vujasinovic) leading the fleet away, however Wobbly Boot (Craig Piccinelli) soon took the lead from Shiraz (John Cable) and Rossgo (Greg Hammon).  

There was a gap back to Masquerade, sailing a lonely race, with Lighthorse (Dianne Forster) not far behind.  The corrected time results saw Shiraz taking the honours from Rossgo and Wobbly Boot.

Presentations at the club afterwards saw the Whitsunday Industrial Services SML prize going to Division 1 trimaran Overdrive (Rupert King), while the participant prize, sponsored by Soft Rigging Solutions, went to the race committee.

A fleet of seven took to the waters of Pioneer Bay on Sunday for the first two heats of the WSC Challengers Cup series.  

At the scheduled starting time, there was insufficient breeze to set the course, resulting in a delay to the start.  Eventually everyone got away at 11:55 in a light easterly breeze.  As the day progressed, so the wind changed, ranging from 6 to 18 knots.

As expected, Back in Black (Michael Van Der Zwaard) dominated on the water, finishing well clear of the fleet.  Back in the main fleet, however, Smooth Criminal (Leo Rodriguez), after slow starts in both races, worked their way forward, hotly contested by Reignition (Charles Wallis) and Treasure VIII (Rob Davis), while Wobbly Boot (Craig Piccinelli) kept them all honest.

After two races, and taking corrected times into consideration, Wobbly Boot won the day with two wins, while a three-way tie for second saw Back in Black, Seventh Heaven (Charlie Preen) and Treasure VIII all on equal points.

There are just two weeks to go to the annual Easter regatta, and already over 40 entries have nominated for the four course areas on Pioneer Bay.

Contributed with thanks to Ross Chisholm

‍Bobby’s Girl and QMS Ponyo

Treasure VIII

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