RACING ROUND UP
Since the last edition of Groundswell we concluded the COVID delayed 2019/20 winter racing and started the 2020/21 season. Starting with the winter results, the Port River Marine Winter Series Race 5 on 16 August was held in very light conditions with some boats not making the time cut off. The breeze returned for Race 6 on 30 August with very close results on AMS and Another Hooligan (Nick George) taking the win by just 33 seconds. In the end the series was won on PHS handicap by a consistent Game On 2 (Julian Newton) and on AMS handicap by the ever fast Doctor Feelgood 3 (Wayne Coonan). Series second place was awarded on both PHS and AMS to Kinetic Energy (Andy Shipp) who performed well in a range of conditions. We would like to thank all the competitors and officials for running a safe and competitive Winter Series. The Short-Handed Series Race 5 on 22 August was abandoned due to bad weather with light breezes arriving for Race 6 on 5 September. We had a healthy field of 10 entries try their hand (or four hands to be precise) in this rapidly developing form of sailing. The Series win was taken out by RSAYS Inukshuk (Robert Large) on count back from PASC Touch N Go (Bill Doble), three points ahead of third place CYCSA boat The Tribe (Dan O’Connell). Well done all. The 2020/21 season kicked off with the Inshore Series Race 1 on 10 October held in a very nice 10-12 knots of wind with 15 boats out on the water. The Division1 AMS win went to Doctor Feelgood 3 (Wayne Coonan) a healthy three minutes from the pocket-rocket Poco Loco (Dan Hayes) and the finally repaired Shining Sea (Andrew Corletto) in third place. It was great to see them back out on the water after a long absence. The PHS handicapper (ie yours truly) got the top five boats within about a six minute window with Another Hooligan (Nick George) taking the chocolates for the win from Pirate (Keith Finch). Division 2 had the top five spread over 10 minutes with seasoned campaigner Young Einstein (Rob Sellick) first, Rock On (Trevor Conyers) second and the newly joined CYCSA boat Ocean Hawk (Steve Emery) in third. Well sailed Steve. The Coaster Series got underway on 17 October with a relatively small fleet of six boats. Rock On won both PHS and AMS from Kinetic Energy. The new Blue Water Series short off-shore series Race 1 was held in pretty good conditions on the same day with a strong field of seven of the Club’s bigger boats including our three TP52s. The course was around 60nm with many reaching miles making for fast times. Line honours went to Venom (Robert Dunn) with the ultra-fast multihull loving the conditions. The IRC win went to Secret Mens Business (Geoff Boettcher) over an improved Another Hooligan (Nick George) who had two seconds of bragging rights at the finish line but a higher handicap than SMB. The AMS and PHS overall win went to the 40 foot School’s Out (Adrian Wotton) who was fortunate to have breeze the whole race even though they were the only boat in the fleet to finish in the dark. A great result for Adrian and his crew. The new offshore format is proving popular with the next race in late November Finally our first regatta, the Yalumba Great Southern, was held on 24-25 October. The first race was held in 25 knots in a short triangle course that saw a number of retirements and the dominance of the TP52s. The second race was postponed due to high winds and the fleets returned the next day to similar conditions. The Race Officer, Malcolm Hughes, and his team did very well to fit two windward/ leeward races in on the Sunday before the weather deteriorated even further. The regatta was a single division affair with a clean sweep for Secret Mens Business on all forms of handicap (PHS, AMS and IRC) from Another Hooligan. Pirate came a creditable third on PHS under the command of Rob Human making a guest appearance for Keith Finch and Doctor Feelgood 3 took out third place in AMS and IRC. It was a tough regatta. The competition is hotting up! Enjoy the summer racing. Mike Holmes FIEAust GAICD | Chair, CYCSA Racing Association
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