We had another high attendance for today’s Handicap racing.

Twenty DAC Sailors braved an inclement forecast and were treated to a nicely “clement” day by the water.

Showers were forecast but we had many sunny periods and it stayed dry for our sailing. The wind was from the South at 8 up to 21Km/Hr., (5 to 12 Knots) and 19^oC.

A feature of the cooler months is the afternoon sun which is creeping lower into our view. It was quite tricky at times.

C sails were in the majority with some D’s appearing towards the end.

A Handicap day has a different scenario to our normal scratch day. The finish line is the one with all the congestion. Once we arranged ourselves all worked well. The winner has to grab the scoresheet and with the much needed help of the placegetters, to enter all the finishers in the correct order. It was not unusual to have 7 or 8 boats heading for the finish line within seconds of each other.

Our champion for the day was John Porter sailing #357. John started with a generous handicap and managed to sail consistently well as he entered positive figures. He scored 4 places to secure his win for the day on 32 points. Brian Chapman managed to stay out of trouble for the most part. His win in race 5 and a tie for first with Brendan Hones in race 9, scored second overall on 34.5 points. The tie was a mutual agreement as we couldn’t remember who crossed first. Noel McPherson overcame his distant handicap to earn a win and 2 places. Noel scored an equal 38 points and came third after a countback.

Peter Burton had a good day on the water. Peter started what seemed to be ages after the bulk of the fleet and finished with an equal 38 points to take fourth place by a countback.

The following boats were only separated by few points. Places were scored by many.

Ron Garner (a win), Lew Verdon (a win), Brendan Hones (a win), Martin Thearle, Phil Stevenson (a win), Graham Brown, Karen Paterson (a win), Narelle Derwent (a win), Trevor Bowden, Paula Reilly (a win),

I feel I should also mention all sailors, as even though some finishing positions were at the lower end of the page, they had to overcome high handicaps as a result of past successes. It just wasn’t their day. Judy Evans, Geoff Lucas, Philip Hetherington, Rob Lowndes, Bruce Paterson and Stephen Deane all featured and helped make our sailing day nicely competitive.

Race winners were Brian Chapman 2, Noel McPherson 1, Ron Garner 1, Lew Verdon 1, Brenan Hones 1, Phil Stevenson 1, Karen Paterson 1, Narelle Derwent 1 and Paula Reilly 1.

John Porter took the honours for the day to win 1st place on 32 points.

Brian Chapman finished in 2nd place on 34.5  points.

Noel McPherson finished in 3rd place with 38 points.

The Club Championship now has Graham Brown in front from Phil Stevenson and Noel McPherson.

Our next Sail day is Thursday 8^th May for a Scratch Event.

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