Portarlington YC


MkI

Place Sail No Boat Name Skipper Agg Score Race 6 Race 5 Race 4 Race 3 Race 2 Race 1
1 1750 BONNIE B.WILSON 4 1 1 1 1 -1 -1
2 1736 ITCHY N.JOINER 10 2 3 -5 2 3 -6
2 1774 NO TURBULENCE R.BENNETT 10 3 -4 2 3 -5 2
4 1659 WHITESIDE EXPRESS T.SHEPPERD 18 4 8 -8 -8 2 4
5 1741 RED ALERT P.NIKITIN 19 5 -13 6 5 -11 3
5 1725 FLASH N.BAUMGARTNER 19 -6 -6 4 6 4 5
7 960 MOSTANG M.FLOYD 26 8 -12 -11 4 7 7
8 1709 Carbon Copy P.WATSON 27 11 5 3 -18 8 (18.00C)
9 1755 PRESTISSIMO K.PREST 29 7 -9 7 -9 6 9
10 1756 FREQUENT FLYER G.PLUM 37 -13 2 12 10 -16.5 13
11 1707 NATURAL PROGRESSION A.NEESON 39 9 10 -13 -13 12 8
12 1551 COURAGEOUS J.BUZO 41 10 11 -15 -12 10 10
12 1727 ATREUS J.FLOWER 41 (18.00F) 14 -16 7 9 11
14 1744 SPLASHES OF BRILLIAN P.WARREN-SMITH 45 -14 7 10 14 14 -16
15 1400 THE RIGHT STUFF R.PIKE 51 -15 15 9 -16 15 12
16 666 THE BEAST T.BLAND 53 12 16 -17 11 -16.5 14
17 1737 BADGER’S BACK J.GUYMER 57 -16 -17 14 15 13 15

MkII

Place Sail No Boat Name Skipper Agg Score Race 6 Race 5 Race 4 Race 3 Race 2 Race 1
1 1733 Touch ‘N’ Go P.MANSELL 4 1 1 1 1 -1 -1
2 1111 Perfect Score G.MASKIELL 8 (4.00C) 2 2 -3 2 2
3 1650 Mozaggedon G.LANE 10 2 3 3 2 -3 -3

The view from somewhere in the MK1 fleet….

 

Race 1 – The long wait

No wind. The postponement went up and we waited. Eventually we launched and spent 1.5 hours drifting towards and around the start boat. Finally there was enough wind to start a race, but not much (5 knots?), and everyone was keen to go. Most of the fleet was right on the line at the start and no-one was over early. The first windward work was the only time in this race that the inshore (right hand) side didn’t pay. Peter Nikitin (Red Alert) got it right and rounded the top mark in the lead. He sailed well to the finish but could not keep off challenges from Bob Wilson (Bonnie) and Ross Bennett (No Turbulence).

  • 1st Bob
  • 2nd Ross
  • 3rd Peter

Race 2 – Still no trapezing

A little more wind after lunch, but still not trapezing at the start. Mick Floyd (Mostang) and Tim Shepperd (Whiteside Express) got clean away at the start this time, with Bob close behind. At the windward mark Tim and Bob had opened up a gap on the rest of the fleet and Ross was 3rd. Bob got through to 1st at the bottom mark rounding. Ross was making his way up to challenge for 2nd, but then got caught himself by Neil Joiner (Itchy) and Norbert Baumgartner (Flash), so had to switch his attention to defence. In a very tight final beat to the finish Ross tried to cover Neil but Neil broke through to 3rd and to add insult to injury, Norbert also sneaked through for 4th.

  • 1st Bob
  • 2nd Tim
  • 3rd Neil

Race 3 – The BIG shift

A new day, a new wind. No the same light wind again! Still no trapezing. Half the fleet attempted to start on port tack this time (could have been a bit of line bias!). In fact very few port tackers made a decent start so maybe there wasn’t so much bias. Keith Prest (Prestissimo) made it 1st to the windward mark this time, and led the fleet around the course. Everything changed on the second work, when a huge shift to the left and a hole in the wind killed the boats which had gone to the right. Bob and Neil came out on top and finished that way with Bob covering Neil to the finish. Ross battled through to 3rd and Mick took 4th.

  • 1st Bob
  • 2nd Neil
  • 3rd Ross

Race 4 – Wind at last!

The MKIIs had their start abandoned because the wind was actually dying – unbelievable with 20-25kts forecast. After a brief wait we all got started. Port bias again, and the fleet was nicely sread out along the line with some white boat at the pin right on the gun. Bob quickly took the lead this time, and down the 2nd reach the wind filled in. Everybody could be seen tightening everything at the start of the 2nd beat (downhaul, outhaul, diamonds, trap-harness, hatch covers, hat, sunnies, thermos lids – everything). With wind and waves it was a different game and a few new faces appeared up the front. While Bob showed a clean pair of heels, and Ross chased after him, P Watson (Carbon Copy) came through to finish 3rd and Norbert picked up another 4th with Neil right behind him.

  • 1st Bob
  • 2nd Ross
  • 3rd P Watson

Race 5 – More wind!

Back-to-back with race 4. Some attempted a port tack start to get in to shore early and it worked for some. Bob showed his pace again and tore away after the 1st lap hottly pursued by Neil, with Ross and Greg Plum (Frequent Flyer) not far behind. One of Neils diamonds came free and he managed to get it back and continue but eventually it came adrift again and Greg went through into 2nd, where he stayed for the rest of the race.

  • 1st Bob
  • 2nd Greg
  • 3rd Neil

Race 6 – The decider?

Once again the wind went light, and the boats were fairly slow off the line. The wind slowly built,and the waves rapidly built. The leaders spread out with Bob, Ross, Peter and Norbert in that order, until the beat at the start of the final lap, when Neil and Tim took a tack out to the left into the mounting waves, and found some extra breeze (along with some totally out-of-proportion waves). Bob was far enough ahead to be safe but Ross wasn’t so lucky and found himself following Neil around the top mark. Tim rounded behind Ross, and just in front of Peter and Norbert. There were no more position changes for the rest of the last lap, and that was the end of the championship. The last starboard tack up to the finish line was extraordinary as the wind lost a little of it’s strength and we slammed over and through the waves coming across the bay.

  • 1st Bob
  • 2nd Neil
  • 3rd Ross

In all the championship was very well run by Portarlington S.C. and the racing was close, with a lot of place-changing, and many different faces appearing out front (seven different skippers posted results in the first 3). Congratulations to Bob Wilson on another convincing win (keeping everyone honest). I’m looking forward to next year’s event.

Tim Shepperd