RACE REPORT - SUNDAY 9 JUNE 2024

Photos by Jason Wilkins

King’s Birthday Long Weekend - Winter Sprints

6:15am on a winter’s morning looks stunning at Double Bay Sailing Club for those dodging flu and covid this season. Richard George was captured having just surveyed the sunrise but also the mirror-like surface of our beautiful harbour. Thanks to John Vasey for popping in on his bike ride to check on the RIBs but everything was looking great except for the wind.

An enthusiastic group of 16 sailors attended the briefing with the wind apps telling us that a wind strength of 1 knot with gusts of 2 knots. The PRO made the call at about 7:40am for a postponement and for sailors to stay ashore.

Across the harbour we could see a small fleet of Etchells being towed out to race. There appeared to be two of them sailing with spinnakers up so we went out onto to the harbour to survey the wind in situ. A persistent 5 knot gentle westerly had developed and a call ashore on the radio was made to get the Lasers heading out. A course adjustment was made that remained surprisingly correct for the duration of the morning and then “Paul Adams” and “Dene Bergman” helped pull the last of the Lasers out of Double Bay before we kicked off the start sequence.

Racing got underway by 8:45am, so just 30 mins lost enjoying the morning sun. We were able to run four races for each fleet with a tactical (and well-supported) decision to race a single lap on the fourth race. There were 10 Standards and 6 Radial starters (how often do we get more Standards than Radials nowadays? Although I suspect we have an increasing number of crossovers depending on the wind).

Eight clean starts and some very competitive racing with a call out to Chris Tattersall (Standards) and Jasper Kinsman (Radials) taking the line respectively in the first two races. The balance of wind shifts and pressure made for exciting racing in the 5-7 knot breeze. Boat handling skills were put to the test in close quarter rounding at the leeward gate with photos attached.

Some sailors even reported hiking in the breeze coming back into Double Bay amongst the moorings! All sailors and buoys ashore by 10:45am, one capsize, and no rescues.

[Side note: Richard reported that the Dene Bergman radio was transmitting but not receiving]

Volunteer crew for the day was: PRO Jason Wilkins, LTRaR Rob Blum (obrigado), COTD Richard George and CoCOTD Michael Morris.

Race Report: Jason