Twilight Race Report

After a couple of weeks of very light breeze, it was nice to see a 15 knot south-easterly wind blowing across Pioneer Bay for the start of last week’s Whitsunday Sailing Club twilight race.  

These events, every Wednesday afternoon, attract up to 120 locals and visitors to have a go at sailing in an organised yacht race.

In the first start, a mistake by Treasure VIII (Rob Davis) saw them returning to restart, giving the Doyle Sails sponsored best start prize to Wide Load (Shannan Hart).  

At the first rounding mark, QMS Ponyo (John Galloway) held a slender lead over Reignition (Charles Wallis), with Smooth Criminal (Leo Rodriguez) and Bobby’s Girl (Mark Beale) hot on their tale.

On the second lap, it all went wrong for Smooth Criminal, as they dropped to the back of the lead group, allowing QMS Ponyo an easy race to the finish.

Bobby’s Girl came home second, 30 seconds ahead of Reignition.  

On corrected time, QMS Ponyo took the honours over Wide Load and Reignition.

In the second start, Masquerade (Tom Vujasinovic) caught the competition napping, and led the fleet into the start.  

As usual, this did not last long as Matchless (Terry Stevens) soon took the lead, stretching out to over 4 minutes on Domino (Paul Dynes), with Shiraz (John Cable) a further 20 seconds back.  

While Masquerade kept the rest honest, Manteca (Frank Tennyson) sailed a great race to be right in the mix.  

Corrected time results, after handicaps were applied, saw Lama (Louie Tuck) take the win over Manteca and Masquerade.

In the third start, G’nome (Terry Archer) took the starting honours over Ullman Sails (Paul Mitchell), but that was the only time as Ullman Sails powered away to a convincing win both on the water and on corrected time.

Races continue every Wednesday from 4:30pm, with limited crewing positions available. Those wishing to participate as crew need to be at the club by 2:30 pm (limited spots available).

Contributed with thanks to Ross Chisholm.

‍