Sailing conditions on Pioneer Bay are now at their premium, as seen at last Wednesday’s twilight race conducted by Whitsunday Sailing Club. A fleet of 18 boat carrying a total of 133 crew sailed in a 12 – 15 knot south easterly breeze as they competed for bragging rights at the aprez-sail event back at the club.
In the first race of the day, Smooth Criminal (Leo Rodriguez) timed the run to the starting line to perfection, initially leading the fleet away, but Black Jack (Blair Mitchell) soon took the lead and were never headed.
While Bobby’s Girl (Mark Beale) held on for a while, they were unable to keep up and settled instead for second place, finishing 3 minutes after the leader. There was a similar gap back to Smooth Criminal, Reignition (Charles Wallis) and QMS Ponyo (John Galloway), while it was a lonely race for Wide Load (Shannan Hart), followed by Wobbly Boot (Craig Piccinelli), Twister (Kevin Fogarty) and Matchless (Terry Stevens). On corrected time, Black Jack held on to the win, with Wide Load second and Bobby’s Girl third.
In the Division 3 fleet, Rossgo (Greg Hammon) felt that he had won the Doyle Sails sponsored best start prize, but a fast-starting Good Vibes (Robert Holm) took the honours, before sailing away to a start to finish lead. Rossgo managed to sit comfortably in second place on the water, with a clear gap back to the trio of Masquerade (Tom Vujasinovic), Lighthorse (Di Forster) and Shiraz (Nicholas Lee), and a similar gap to another trio of Riff Raff (Dan White), Lama (Maz Weatherburn) and Symbiosis (Anne Ross). After handicaps were applied to each boat, Rossgo came out on top, with Lighthorse and Lama filling the minor placings.
The Whitsunday Sailing Club twilight series continues every Wednesday with racing commencing at 4:30. Limited crewing positions may be available. Those wishing to participate as crew need to be at the club by 2:3 pm (limited spots available).
Contributed with thanks to Ross Chisholm.
