Hibiscus Marine Coatings Winter Race 7

Published 20:00 on 3 Sep 2019

A wild wintery day for Race 7 of the Hibiscus Marine Coatings / Engine Room Combined 2019 Winter Series. Richard Brown co-ordinated operations on behalf of GHYC with Sarah Morgan laying marks on Club RIB, Chase.

As the 18 boats headed down to the start-line, blue skies gave a false indication of what was to come. Several crews taking heed of the stronger forecasted breeze reefed down their mains & the majority were using blades on the front. A few minutes after the start for the white fleet, the NW breeze ramped up several notches. The left side of the course seemed to pay for the first leg with the first four to round the top mark coming in from port.

The wind eased as the fleet rounded the wingmark. Enigma 1 & Memphis from the White fleet & several of the Gold fleet hoisted extras, only to have the pressure come back slightly stronger than before half way down the leg. Whilst these boats momentarily were drawing the front of the fleet back in, the increased breeze required efficient crew work to retrieve kites.

Big Kahoonas led the fleet from the top mark & with flat water, the longest waterline & 12 crew ballast they maintained this achieving line honours.

As always, the gold & white fleet converged with the shorter second upwind leg of the gold fleet. These upwind legs would be less noticeable without mentioning some significant puffs coming off the land keeping skippers & main control working hard. Rounding the bottom mark saw some close quarter sailing between Flasher, Sniper & First Priority, as Sniper made a sail change, whilst holding out their competition.

The final upwind leg was a consistent Force 5 and certainly blew away any remaining cobwebs. Azure was kept on their toes with an effective avoidance manoeuvre on the finish line to finish off a strong race for their crew.

Great to have Sam Kynman-Cole from Topview Photography out on Olympus to capture some high caliber images of the action on the water today.

Podium Positions:

White Fleet: 3rd - Fastlane, 2nd - Azure, 1st - First Priority
Line Honours: Big Kahoonas

Gold Fleet: 3rd - Flasher, 2nd - C McGuire, 1st - Mix T Motions
Line Honours: Southern Rebel

Last updated 09:19 on 20 February 2024