Seven yachts headed for the Batemans Bay Sailing Club Bay Cup Race on Saturday. It was a great day for sailing. The committee boat crew of Dave Magill, Terry Paton and Roger Rowe set a very appropriate course for the NNE breeze. This consisted of two laps around a triangular course between the Wimbie Beach mark, the Marine Park Middle mark and a laid mark near Square Head. “Accolade” (Lachlan Brown) led most of the way around but had to retire after misreading the course and heading off in the wrong direction. “Attitude” (Simon Byrne) inherited the lead and went onto win the race on AMS from “Wishful Thinking” (Andrew Bain) and “North Star” (John Drummond). On PHS “Xanthia” (James Gardiner) stayed close enough to the race leaders to score a clear victory from “Attitude” and “Avior” (Tony Sutton and Celia Davey).
Above: PHS winner “Xanthia”.
Sadly the day was marred by the tragic drowning of a 13 year old girl when a power boat capsized at the Moruya River entrance earlier in the morning. The subsequent news that this occurred on a strong run out tide serves as a reminder of Alan Lucas’ aphorism “when in doubt about conditions on the bar, wait until the fourth hour of a rising tide.” Please stay safe on the water everyone.
