Twilight Race

A fleet of 14 yachts, with a total crew of 88 locals and visitors took part in last Wednesday’s twilight race conducted by Whitsunday Sailing Club.  

A 12 to 15 knot south easterly breeze and flat water made for a wonderful afternoon on the water.

The start of Division 2 was close, with 4 boats crossing the starting line together, with just a small margin allowing QMS Ponyo (John Galloway) to take the Doyle Sails sponsored best start prize, with Treasure VIII (Rob Davis), Reignition (Charles Wallis) and Bobby’s Girl (Simon Brain) close behind.  

By the first rounding mark, Bobby’s Girl held a slender lead over QMS Ponyo, Reignition and Treasure VIII while Smooth Criminal (Iyas Shaheen) and Twister (Kevin Fogarty) were playing catch-up after a slow start.

The racing at the front remained close, with Bobby’s Girl controlling from the front, crossing the finishing line 30 seconds clear of QMS Ponyo, while Smooth Criminal just got ahead of Reignition for third and fourth places.  

After handicaps were applied, Smooth Criminal took the honours by 2 seconds to Twister, with QMS Ponyo third.  

If the start of Division 2 was close, Division 3 was similar, with newcomer, Domino (Paul Dynes) just centimetres ahead of 4 other boats.

Once again it was Matchless (Terry Stevens) who led around the windward mark, never to be headed.  

This left some very close racing behind, with Shiraz (John Cable) and Domino constantly swapping places, while Rossgo (Greg Hammon) and Masquerade (Tom Vujasinovic) keeping watch.  

In the battle for second, Shiraz took the honours by 20 seconds over Domino.  

On corrected time, Riff Raff (Dan White) headed Lighthorse (Dianne Forster) and Rossgo, with less than a minute separating 3rd to 7th places on corrected time.

Races continue every Wednesday from 4:30pm, with limited crewing positions available.

Contributed with thanks to Ross Chisholm.

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Twilight racing every Wednesday afternoon. Photo supplied