RACE REPORT 13 January 2024

Photo by Brad Cox

Last Saturday saw a glorious start to the 2024 Autumn Point Score series with magnificent sunshine, beautiful blue skies, and a ten to twelve knot east north easterly blowing, along with a strong run out tide. A fleet of thirty-six boats joined us on the harbour for the first race, along with a handful of visitors and perhaps one or two sailors that may have forgotten to sign on using the sailor app.

In the first race, the Radial fleet were a little too keen, not helped perhaps by the run out tide which led to a general recall before a black flag restored order at the restart. As as for the Standards, it was a clear start and so we were under way in both fleets in no time.

First over the line in the Radials was Cormac Johnston, with Daniel Costandi taking out the Standards. Noting the difficulty with the easterly slant in the north-easterly breeze making for a tame top reach, race management opted to make a slight tweak to the positioning of the wing mark before the second start to give a tighter bottom reach.

In the second race, the Radials got away to a clean start with the exception of Charlie Byford, who mistimed his start and was over by a good boat and a half. As for the Standards, it was another clear start and the sailors made their way towards the top mark off Shark Island. The slight change to the wing mark positioning looked to produce a much more exciting angle to the bottom mark and a great spectacle for the race crew. In the Radials, Alistair Sutherland got fastest time, with Rod Barnes taking out the Standards.

Note that work on the Double Bay wharf reconstruction is now complete, so it is much easier to navigate out and back. As well, the view from the deck is much improved.

A big thanks to PRO Murray Stone and John Vasey (Learn to run a race), and to Richard George and Brad Cox as Captain and Co-captain of the day, respectively. Thank you also to former DBSC member Gerard, who assisted the race crew in the Dene Bergman.

Also, thank you to all the sailors who signed on using the Sailor App. This is a great system for managing results and to have sailors signed on makes it so easy to get finish order and times accurately recorded.

Photos by Brad Cox