Sunday Series II – Race 2
It was a dramatic end to racing in july, as a huge storm crashed the 2nd race of our Sunday Series II, causing mayhem on the course. Despite the challenging conditions resulting in many retirements, we are glad that all participating sailors were safe and unhurt.
The storm clouds approached swift and furious from the east, giving participants little time to react. The beach catamaran class ended up being the quickest and safest fleet, managing to outrun the storm back from North Angler. Leading the pack were Stray Catz and Madfish II, with the former taking line honours and surrendering 1st place to Madfish II on corrected time. The 3rd boat to finish was none other than Bad Influence. The Nacra 15 just missed out on podium by a few seconds, taking 4th place. Kaze Cat completes the finishers in 5th.
The Multihull Class saw more casualties, with the weta sailors struggling in the strong winds and poor visibility. Only Tim Jackson’s Itchy-Go and Tim Hill’s Cicak managed to emerge from the storm unscathe, finishing 1st and 2nd respectively. Antonio Bertoletti’s Striped One suffered a capsize, but was quickly offered assistance by a nearby towing barge, effectively ending his racing pursuits for the day. Tantrum, sailed by Jonathan Hardy played it safe, but eventually required assistance from the safety boat to lower his mains and depower the sail, also retiring from the race.
In the PY Class, the first casualty was Invictus, suffering a broken main halyard on the beat up to North Angler – thus returning to the moorings early. Remington joined the list of misfortune, getting their spinnaker wrapped around their propeller during the storm, destroying both their spinnaker and their hopes of finishing the race. At the top of the fleet, Sangaree took line honours, with Adona, Shardana, Sapphire Star and Minx hot on her heels. Sangaree eventually slipped to 7th on corrected time, struggling in the strong breeze on limited crew. Adona thrived in the long upwind & downwind course, winning the PY Class by a comfortable 5 minutes ahead of Minx in 2nd place and Sapphire Star trailing another 20 seconds behind.
A poor spinnaker routine by Jong Dee nearly cost them their victory in the IRC Class, scraping into 1st place just 20 seconds ahead of Red Rum. A wise pre-race decision from skipper Steve Manning to sail on their non-spinnaker rating, handling the boat safe and well in the heavy weather. Reigning champions Waka Tere tested out their new furling asymmetrical spinnaker set up for this race, encountering some problems during the course. Born in Fire was quick to capitalize on this, completing the podium in 3rd.
Thank you all for participating – we look forward to next week’s Twilight Series II – Race 2!
Results
