Report by Mario Gulic
Sunny skies greeted us in beautiful Portland Victoria with a nor’westerly wind and B rigs the sail of choice. Our first time race officer Phil Smith was ready, the course was set and we were away with Brad Hein wining the first and Liam Harper taking out second which was his best result for the regatta. (I think he peaked too early) Luke Donovan 4th and Peter Trenorden 5th also had their best results for the regatta. The second race also went to Brad while the third went to Gary Hein. The home water advantage looked like it was going to play a part in the final results while some of us were thinking what kind of sorcery is going on here. Race 4 is when Daniel Bergan said ok that’s enough of a head start and in the next 8 races had 5 bullets, a second and 2 thirds.
Darren Cathie took out the last race of the day with a nice win over Brad. Results day one. Daniel 17, Brad 20 and Mario 25.
Day two was a northerly turning west with everyone starting on D rigs
Darren won race 12 in tricky winds that also saw David Ingleton have his best result for the regatta. A 30 minute delay for ever changing wind direction had the boat boys Andrew Hayes and Ian George working hard to set a fair course. Adam Chambers won his first comfortably in race 13 while Peter Murfett had his best result with a third. Meanwhile in the background Mario had 2 seconds for the day sending Brad and Daniel into a panic and opting for C rigs. Results after race 13 were Daniel 29, Mario 29, Brad 30 while Vanessa McCallum the only lady in the fleet having her best result with an 8th place. The rig change worked for Daniel with another win in race 14. Race 15 had Brad winning and Merv McDonald got his best result with 3rd place. The penultimate race saw a shake up for overall third position with Adam winning the race. Scores with one race to go were Daniel 28, Brad 33, Adam 41 and Mario relegated to 4th on 43 points.
Merv and Gary were fighting for 7th while Liam and Peter were having it out for 11th. So the stage was set for the final race. Best skipper to not place in any race Grant Gillespie. 11th place taken out by Liam, 7th was taken by Gary and another win for Daniel secured the result for first, Brad 2nd and Adam folded like a cheap suit in the last to give Mario a podium finish.
Thank you to all involved including the boat operator on day one, Sam Bassham. The Scorers Dianne Hein and Rosemary Murfett. The Portland Yacht club and a great job done by Brad Hein and crew. Loved the cakes.
Until next time fair winds to all.
