Last weekend was a great weekend for sailing. Batemans Bay Sailing Club conducted the annual South Coaster Regatta, which is the main keelboat regatta of the year. On Saturday there were two short windward leeward races. On Sunday there was a longer race around all corners of the Bay using BBSC’s permanent rounding marks.
The windward leeward races were all over in under an hour, which meant there was little opportunity to recover from a bad start or a sail handling snafu. “Wishful Thinking” (Andrew Bain) got the best start in the first race and led around the first lap before sailing into a windless hole in the middle of the course. “Attitude” (Simon Byrne) got past and was able to dictate terms from there, forcing the other boats to tack or gybe away from the favoured course to keep clear wind on their sails. In the second race “Accolade” (Lachlan Brown) turned the tables with a well timed approach to the start line. “Avior” (Tony Sutton) was snapping at the heels of the bigger boats all day in perfect S80 conditions.
On Sunday there was a bit more breeze and a longer course with many mark roundings, putting a premium on excellent teamwork amongst the crews. “Accolade” again showed the way despite some spinnaker trouble at one mark rounding (see photo). “The Shed” (Ron Spelman) did well as her young crew combination began to click. John Drummond and the “North Star” crew were having a cruisey time of it further back. In division two it was “Hobo” sailed by Peter Withington and John Clement which led all the way from “Lollipop” skippered by Deb Keeley.
Full results are up on the BBSC website www.bbsc.org.au . Thanks must go to our race officer Dave Magill and his trusty sidekicks Terry Paton and Roger Rowe.
Above: "Accolade” photos by Terry Paton
