Club Championship Races 3 & 4
Saturday was one of those crystal clear spring days, with not a cloud in the sky, only the smudge of some back-burning somewhere up Middle Harbour. Wind was from the northwest. The Race Committee set the start line clear of Shark Island and well away from Point Piper in order to have a weather leg clear of Clark Island. We launched at the top of a rather high tide, so both races were sailed in a strong ebb current.
A fleet of 40 Lasers (26 Radials, 12 Standards & two 4.7's) enjoyed the afternoon, sharing the harbour, in particular our course area, with a number of yachts that decided to see what we were up to, sometimes in the middle of our starting sequence. All part of the Sydney Harbour experience, I suppose.
The starts were a little tricky, not helped by our RC providing a quite "economical" start line length, and a tide that made fetching the pin a challenge from that half of the line. The Radials and 4.7's got off cleanly in Race 3, however the Standards had a General Recall in spite of the tide pushing them away from the line.
Sara Bruce took Race 3 in the Radials, Zander Bijkerk in the Standards and Harper Spacey in the 4.7's.
In Race 4, the wind perked up a bit, at least in patches. Staying left appeared to pay, probably because the adverse current was slightly slower and the waves smaller, but there were significant shifts and pressure differences to be found everywhere. The Radials needed a second attempt under a Black Flag to get away. The Standards were better behaved.
Sylvie Stannage won Race 4 in the Radials, Campbell Patton in the Standards and Tucker McKeon in the 4.7's.
Many thanks to the Race Committee of Craig Sheers, Tim Heath and Jack Tattersall in the Jazzman, with Mark Gray and his daughter Milla with Peter D'Arcy-King in the RIB. In the kitchen, Shirley and Paul were assisted by Diana Chen and Tory Epworth.
The BBQ on the deck afterward was fabulous, as always. Thanks to Paul and Shirley for the set-up, to Pat Levy for working the BBQ and especially to everyone who stayed late to tidy up, wash up and put everything away.
- Chris Tattersall, Editor.
