From the Stawell Paper

Stawell Yacht Club hosts annual regatta





STAWELL Yacht Club held its annual regional regatta and with a light but steady breeze and a fleet of seventeen entrants, all the signs were looking promising for a successful weekend.





Jan Ibs von Seht crashes out with a broken boom.

Portland's Luke Donovan won the catamaran division of race 1 from local sailor Ross Bennett, while monohull division honours went to Warrnambool Impulse skipper Mick Wright ahead of Stawell's Johno Knight.

Jack Goodall of Warrnambool won the junior section.

Three races were scheduled for the afternoon session, but unfortunately the strengthening wind brought a premature end to proceedings after just one event.

Only six craft fronted the start line and in a race of savage attrition, just two finished.

Of the two catamarans to start, Jon Goodall retired after parting company with his A class which sailed off crewless before they were reunited courtesy of a rescue boat, leaving local skipper Ross Bennett to take the win.

Following capsizes in metre high waves and winds gusting to 30 knots, the dinghies of Wright and Marcroft retired mid-race, leaving just the two local Impulses of Johno Knight and Jan Ibs von Seht to fight out their division.

Knight was revelling in the conditions, but the lighter weight Ibs von Seht had his work cut out despite a gritty effort.

He sailed extremely well, but was forced to retire after smashing spectacularly at the leeward mark and breaking his boom, requiring a tow back to the beach.




Sunday's conditions could not have been more of a contrast to those of the previous day, with an almost windless morning resulting in a 'drifter'.

Twenty boats participated in this frustratingly slow event which was shortened by officials.

Race winners were Tom Englezos sailing a Taipan, Steve Marcroft of Horsham club in a Laser and Jack Goodall.

The breeze finally kicked in later in the day, enabling a trophy race which attracted a field of ten dinghies including several remaining visitors.
Overall Ross Bennett in his Mosquito took the regatta win in the Catamaran Division, Mick Wright in his Impulse won the Monohull Devision

Ross Bennett jumped ship from his catamaran to the new Impulse and scored a handicap victory in only his second outing on the boat ahead of Steve Marcroft and George Grellet.

He also held the outright lead for much of the distance, until a mistake caused him to take on water allowing Johno Knight to snatch line honours.

Bennett's success earned him bragging rights for wins in both classes in the one weekend, undoubtedly a rare achievement.




Stawell Yacht Club set to celebrate


Stawell Yacht Club will be celebrating its sixtieth anniversary this Sunday.7/12/2014 all welcome