Race Results – 4 February 2023
Seven skiffs contested the final heat of both the Australian Championship and the Summer Point Score in an erratic westerly. Yendys pulled off a risky port hand start and led around Kurraba Point.
SFS Race Report Sat 4th February 2023 by Bob Chapman, 6 Feb 2023. Race 13 of the 2022-23 Season, Race Three (final) of the Australian Championship and Heat Six (final) of the Summer Point Score. Seven skiffs were on hand for today’s race with clear skies and warm conditions in the boat park courtesy of a dry westerly that appeared somewhat erratic and stronger than forecast. Most skiffs elected to use full size no.2 rigs while Yendys rigged with no.1 mainsail and no.2 jib. Boat launching and exit from Careening Cove in a light westerly was a slow process and resulted in a delay for skiffs to get to the start area. The warm weather also attracted additional recreational craft onto the harbour. After a 5 minute delay the race got underway from a scratch start off Athol Bight on the no.5 West course into an erratic and puffy W-NW breeze of around 10 kts, towards the end of the run-out tide. A late change of wind direction and pressure during the final count-down made for an interesting situation, with some skiffs opting for a port-hand start at the pin-end. Yendys was best away after a risky port-hander while Britannia started well on starboard. The first beat to Kurraba was very challenging with the wind strength up and down and fluctuating between west and north-west, along with a difficult approach to the mark set well into the bay.
Yendys pulls off a port-hand start.
Courtesy Wayne.
Yendys was first to round the mark at Kurraba in good breeze with a good lead for the run to Point Piper, while the skiffs that followed had to negotiate light winds into the mark. Next skiff to round was The Mistake then Britannia, Alruth, Australia IV, Tangalooma and Australia. Five ringtails were set down this run; Yendys’ “set” was short lived after their ringtail tore from luff to leach, while Alruth’s ringtail “set” was deemed somewhat dodgy (ie not worthy of a full size jug of rum & coke under the club’s ringtail incentive program). With the puffy conditions the occasional fast ride was had down to the Point Piper mark where the proximity of the lee-shore and lack of runway makes for a challenge for the spinnaker drop and mark rounding, not to mention negotiating the fleet of Lasers hanging around for a race start in close proximity.
The skiffs head down the first run.
Courtesy Adrienne Jackson.
Yendys rounded Point Piper with a substantial lead for the beat back to Kurraba followed by The Mistake, Australia IV, Britannia, Tangalooma, Alruth and Australia. The breeze had filled-in at this stage, nice sailing conditions, breeze still shifting in direction with plenty of harbour boat wash.
Yendys made a long port tack across to the Mosman shore while The Mistake worked up towards Garden Island. With the breeze switching around there did not appear to be an advantage to either option, the final section into the mark was still the big challenge in the variable conditions. Yendys maintained their lead to round first at Kurraba for the reach to Clark Island with a gap to The Mistake, then Australia IV, Alruth, Tangalooma, Britannia and Australia. Yendys set a reaching spinnaker and was soon blown off course where they continued to run hard until it was time to drop the spinnaker and head to the island under main & jib. Meanwhile The Mistake encountered fresh breeze early in the run, held off setting a spinnaker until well down the run then set their spinnaker for the final section into the island.
Yendys powers upwind.
Courtesy Wayne.
Yendys was first to round at Clark Island for the final beat to the finish at Kurraba followed by The Mistake, Australia IV, Alruth, Tangalooma, Britannia and Australia. Once again Yendys made a long port hand leg across to the northern shore where they picked-up a favourable NW shift to carry up to the finish line, winning the race by a clear 5 mins from The Mistake, another 5 mins to Australia IV, then Alruth, Britannia, Tangalooma and Australia. The handicap was won by Yendys from Britannia and Tangalooma. After 6 races the Summer Point Score was won by Yendys from Tangalooma and Britannia. The Galloping Ghost Trophy for the H18s Australian Championship was won by Yendys from The Mistake and Britannia. Congratulations to the Yendys crew of Barry Watson, Michael Van Stom, Jack Tang, Andrew Buckland, Andrew Hay, Don Buckley and Russell Debney. While the Raw Meat Trophy for the Handicap event was won by Alruth from Yendys and The Mistake. Refer below for event point scores. With thanks to our on-water support team of Barley, Wendy, Russell, Bob, Chuck and Tomoko, with crew sign-on by Tomoko, Rob on WB 379, Ross on the B-B-Q and Fiona on the raffle. We look forward to seeing you down at the Squaddie next week. Results for Sat 4th February 2023. Race 13
Skiff Yendys The Mistake Australia IV Alruth Britannia Tangalooma Australia Top Weight Scot Aberdare Myra Too
04-Feb-23
Skipper B. Watson J. Winning T. Stewart A. Robertson I. Smith N. Turbit M. Flanagan
Race Hcap 0:00 0:01 0:06 0:08 0:16 0:13 0:09 0:11 0:15 0:14 0:07
Scr Start West Course West
10-18 kts
Start Time 14:35:00 14:35:00 14:35:00 14:35:00 14:35:00 14:35:00 14:35:00 DNC DNC DNC DNC
H'cap New Ring AHSSA Rating Rating Time Hcap tail Rating C'Time Place 1:27:04 0 1 0:01:30 1:25:34 1 1:31:47 3 1 0:01:30 1:31:17 2 1:31:54 8 1 0:01:30 1:36:24 5 1:32:07 10 1 0:04:30 1:35:37 4 1:27:21 17 1 0:08:30 1:34:51 3 1:30:57 15 0:05:00 1:38:57 6 1:36:02 11 0:03:00 1:42:02 7 11 15 14 7
Finish Time 16:02:04 16:07:47 16:12:54 16:15:07 16:18:21 16:18:57 16:20:02
Race Time 1:27:04 1:32:47 1:37:54 1:40:07 1:43:21 1:43:57 1:45:02
Skiff Aberdare Alruth Australia Australia IV Britannia Myra Too Scot Tangalooma The Mistake Top Weight Yendys
Season Point Score 0 31 23 53 36 0 18 42 40 1 44
Summer Point Score 0 19 9 19 20 0 4 22 15 1 27
Ringtail Point Score 0 1 0 7 9 0 0 0 5 0 5
Australian Championship, Galloping Ghost Trophy Place Skiff Skipper R1 R2 1 Yendys Barry Watson 2 1 2 The Mistake John Winning 1 3 3 Alruth Alan Robertson 3 2 4 Britannia Ian Smith 5 6 5 Australia IV Terry Stewart 6 4 6 Tangalooma Neville Turbit 4 7 7 Australia Marshall Flanagan 7 5 8 Top Weight John Tierney 10 9 9 Scot Jamie Watt 10 10
R3 1 2 4 3 5 6 7 10 10
Points 4 6 9 14 15 17 19 29 30
Raw Meat Trophy Place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Skiff Alruth Yendys The Mistake Britannia Tangalooma Australia IV Australia Top Weight Scot
H1, 14/1 1 5 2 4 3 6 7 10 10
H2, 21/1 1 3 4 5 6 2 7 9 10
H3, 4/2 6 1 4 2 3 5 7 10 10
Points 8 9 10 11 12 13 21 29 30
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