******** with Pete Pollard on Weta Trimaran “Porky’s Revenge” stopped racing and won the one lap race in a time of 2hrs1min16 seconds due to their brilliant racing, lightning reflexes and the fact that nobody else stopped after one lap so there was no second prize in that race.
The second lap was hard fought with continual lead swaps, bigger gusts and more capsizes, at the end of the second lap five cats elected to stop racing, Brad Mann with Sue Westgarth on Cobra with Spinnaker “Scream” took first place on handicap in the two lap race with a time of 2hrs53mins,30secs followed by Johnny Bekin second on A Class “Zeus”, 2hrs41mins37secs, Brian Partridge with Sam Gaylard third on Stingray “Fantasia”, 2hrs49mins 27seconds, Neil Ferguson with Liz Southall fourth on Taipan 5.7 with spinnaker “Men Behaving Badly”, 2hrs55mins,38seconds, Mark Watters fifth on A Class “Mistress”, 3hrs8mins49seconds.
The third lap reach South was heart thumping action with unbelievably fantastic gusts coming off the close shore with little warning that you were about to be thumped, travellers were going in and out, boats were going up and down, The courage of the solo F16 guys was something to wonder at, they popped their kites at the first mark and took off hanging on for dear life, boats went over, bows were stuffed, all through this the Yvonne 20 crewed by Marcus and Nathan Towell just popped its spinnaker and went looking for more wind on a wide angle that gave them a reach back to the Northerly mark always looking for more wind. During this last lap Emile Barrett did a pitchpole on the F16 as did Bob and Carina on the Wildcat, as Jeff Southall jibed at the Northern mark his crew John Cantor did a spectacular backward summersault from the middle of the tramp straight off the boat leaving Jeff to do a leisurely jibe and tack in 25knots to pick him up. The front runners were still changing positions and the run back to the finish line was exciting close racing in a mixed fleet to see Steve Kroon with Tim Wildy on Nacra Infusion F18 “Painter and Docker” take the three lap line honours right on the line in 3hrs23secs46secs. Emile Barrett took second place line honours on Blade F16 “Speed Racer”, 3hrs24mins22secs, Tony Barrett third place line honours on Blade F16 “Lone Wolf”, 3hrs25mins,37secs.
The well deserved handicap winner of the regatta was Marcus Towell with his son Nathan first place on Yvonne 20 “Mauna Kia III”,3hrs50mins30secs, then in handicap order Evan Steele with Darryl Brooksby second on 4.9 Taipan “Serenity”,3hrs27mins,58secs, Emile Barrett third on Blade F16 “Speed Racer”, 2hrs24mins22secs, Tony Barrett fourth on Blade F16 “Lone Wolf”, Tim Hollingsworth with David Short fifth on Nacra 5.8 “Southern Baptist”,3hrs28mins58secs, Steve Kroon with Tim Wildy sixth on Nacra Infusion F18 “Painter and Docker”,3hrs23mins46secs, Paul Short lost places when he capsized just short of the line to finish seventh on A Class “Sunset Strip”3hrs30mins46secs, Bob Schahinger with Carina Cartwright eighth on Hobie Wildcat F18 “Inconspicuous”,3hrs30mins24secs, Rex Gibbs with Julie Gibbs ninth on Stingray “Chasin a feeling”,3hrs45mins,30secs, Jeff Southall and John Cantor were the only Lacepede Bay sailors to complete three laps 10th on Taipan 5.7 “4WildThings”, 3hrs36mins46secs. Evan Steele with Darryl Brooksby second on 4.9 Taipan “Serenity” did a fantastic job to be in the front pack the whole race and not only come fourth on line honours but to round the first mark in front on all 3 laps
The club would like to thank the volunteers who made this event possible, without their help it couldn’t be held, Mr and Mrs Ferguson for manning the rescue boat, the SES for again supporting the race with their fantastic boat, Trevor Short from Adelaide for filling in on the rescue boat, Herman Kroon from Adelaide for manning the tower and timekeeping, Maeve Southall for the photos. Emily Watters for canteen and cooking
Photos are at
http://beachcatsaustralia.ning.com/photo/albums/lacepede-bay-sailing-club-1video is
http://youtu.be/-LzOSWfIZzI
