Race 6 (postponed) Autumn Series 2017/18 - Race Report and Results
/A radio start meant all boats hit their allotted start windows exactly - except one that had "shear" bad luck.
Course 3 was chosen by the start boat (One Mo' Time). Eight boats made the start - another great turn out for the Club.
A freshening westerly was forecast and the reality was a bit more than that. All boats made steady progress until Middle Head where the water ahead looked a bit disturbed. True to form, the westerly was funnelling in through Balmoral which resulted in a bit of rounding up and loss of comfort for some.
Crooz, Breva, and Megisti Blue had caught Sapphire and Celete by the Manly zone. These three boats kept station at pretty the much the same speed and heading all the way back to Shark Island. Word from those boats with instruments was a steady 8.3 knots for all three, all the way. Whatever happened to that theoretical hull speed calculation? (√LWL x 1.34, by the way)
After rounding Shark Island, the full force of the 28-32 knot freshening wind was felt by all. Crooz dug in very well and pulled clear with a solid win by three minutes. Breva and Megisti Blue traded a couple of port / starboard crossings with Breva prevailing by just 32 seconds with the complication of an interloper calling room on Breva and tacking right in front of Megisti Blue at the NW tip of Clark Island.
The remaining finishing order was One Mo' Time, Celete, Blue Sky, Martela and Sapphire.
After this race, Martela on 12 points narrowly holds a lead in the Autumn series of one point over Breva and Megisti Blue which are tied on 13 points, with One Mo' Time still within reach on 14 points. Brilliant!!!