by Lachlan Brown
It was a great day for sailing on Saturday when Batemans Bay Sailing Club held the last coastal race of the season around the pentastar course. The pentastar course is so called because it affords a scenic trip to BBSC marker buoys at all 5 corners of Batemans Bay, with a trip back to the middle mark after each rounding.
5 boats ventured forth to meet race officer Terry Paton and his trusty offsider Michelle Grybaitis aboard the committee vessel "Dave Magill". It was a cool day with a moderate southerly breeze. "Dave Magill" sustained another untimely breakdown before the start line was set. Paton improvised by anchoring straight away and setting the start between "Dave Magill" and the nearby marine park middle mark, which was also the first rounding mark of the course. Unfortunately the marine park middle mark was well upwind of where "Dave Magill" was anchored resulting in a dramatic pin end bias. All the boats started the race on port tack and then tacked to round the mark. Remarkably there were no rules incidents. Later the "Dave Magill" required a tow in from Marine Rescue.
"Wishful Thinking" (John Tracey) rounded the middle mark first. The "Wishful" crew were slow to set the spinnaker on the next leg out to Chain Bay, allowing "Accolade" (Lachlan Brown) through. On the work back up to the middle mark, "Wishful" gained ground back on "Accolade" which was underpowered with her #3 headsail up. The "Accolade" crew were able to change up to the #1 headsail on the following run to the Yellow Rock mark and stayed away to record a convincing win on line honours, AMS and PHS from "Wishful Thinking". "Attitude" (Simon Byrne) and "Sail La Vie" (John Drummond) employed a more cruisey spinnaker free approach to the course to finish well back. "Yaminji" (Peter Smith) retired during the race.
Full results are up on the BBSC website www.bbsc.org.au.
Meanwhile BBSC's very own Tony Sutton teamed up with Shane Connelly to score a very creditable fourth overall in the Pittwater Coffs Harbour race aboard "Rum Rebellion".
The final BBSC keelboat race of the season will be sprint races on April 15th. BBSC's major annual event, the Batemans Bay Marina Regatta, will be held on April 22nd and 23rd.
Above: the Adams 10.8 "Attitude" - photo by Michelle Grybaitis
