It was a great day for sailing last Saturday when Batemans Bay Sailing Club held the Bengello Property Services Two Bays race. The course went from a start in the middle of Batemans Bay upwind to the Marine Park middle mark, then to a mark laid off South Broulee, around Broulee Island to another mark laid off North Broulee and back up the coast to a finish off at Caseys Beach. Race officer Dave Magill and his trusty crew aboard the committee boat “Clarence the Clocker” set an excellent starting line. “Wishful Thinking” (Andrew Bain) grabbed the best start at the boat end and led around the middle mark. She then sailed well above the course to Black Rock and let “Accolade” (Lachlan Brown) through to leeward. The fleet had a pleasant run down to South Broulee under the moderate sea breeze. The X 45 “Xanthia” (James Gardiner) deployed her massive spinnaker to good effect and stayed close to the leaders. “Wishful” made a rock hopping track around Broulee Island to snatch the lead back from “Accolade”, which took a more prudent course. Meanwhile both “Ghoster” (Dion Perrins) and “North Star” (John Drummond) were doing well on the square run across Broulee Bay under symmetrical spinnakers.
Above: The PHS winner “Xanthia” skippered by James Gardiner (photo Lachlan Brown)
On the way back up the coast “Wishful” did some more rock hopping in Guerilla Bay and ran out of breeze, handing the lead back to “Accolade” once more. “Xanthia” stayed further offshore and made up ground. Past Black Rock it was a fast reach all the way back to Caseys Beach with the first three yachts all making it back in under four hours. On AMS “Accolade” won from “Wishful Thinking” and “North Star” while on PHS calculations “Xanthia” had a big win from “Ghoster” and “North Star”. The Division Two boats sailed a course within Batemans Bay. The trailerable trimaran “Hobo” (Peter Withington) pipped “Vital Spark” (Richard Dunne) over the line but “Lollipop” with go-fast guest skipper Greg Cockle was close enough to easily win on PHS. Full results are up on the BBSC website www.bbsc.org.au .
Above: International sailing sisters from Hamburg Germany; Katharina Birks ( left ) and Friederike Carpenter (right ) sailed on Wishful Thinking.Both enjoyed flying the ASO spinnaker down to Broulee (photo Simon Lowth).
