Winter Series Report
Kirk Marcolina
Despite the forecast light winds and rain, the day began with a spectacular dawn and a warm sunny morning. A light fog burned off and the fleet was gifted a 10'ish knot westerly (champagne sailing as Mark Bethwaite would say) as we had the whole harbour to ourselves.
About 10 standards and a very big radial fleet turned out. The radials contested all three starts with millimetric precision and timing with only one individual recall. A westerly never shifted left like many predicted. So it became a case of chasing pressure on the right hand side of the course and trying to hold a long starboard tack to the top mark with clean air. Some great tactical angles were sailed on the downwind legs by both rigs, to determine the top three in every race.
Podium finishes for all races were often separated by seconds illustrating the tight racing. Congratulations to the winners: Standards: Geoff Kirk (races 16 and 18), Mark Louis (race 17); Radials: Mina Ferguson (race 16 and 18), and Daniel Costandi (race 17).
A huge thanks to the race management team of Ashley Deacon, James Tudball and Pia Hattersley. Thanks also to Ash and James for their contribution to the reporting for this article.
Ash and James head out to lay the course on a beautiful winter’s morning.