Yesterday we sailed our monthly Handicap Event. Sixteen Sailors came along for an interesting day.

The forecast was looking good with a wind from the South East and a little overcast.

The actual was from the South at 8 up to 27 Km/Hr, (5 to 14 Knots). It did swing to the South East to the end of sailing which caused some wind shading problems. The temperature reached 23^oC.

The choice of sails was a bit of a guess. The upwind marks were quite chancy with little wind speed and a broad range of directions. Once clear of the doldrums, the downwind run with “A” sails was tricky, and then a work back to the finish was difficult. We all chose “B” sails towards the end.

Our Champion of the day was Geoff Lucas. Geoff made good use of his starting handicap of -10 to finish the day on 85 seconds. Four wins, a second and a third was unbeatable, giving Geoff first place with a score of only 9 points.

Our past Handicap front runner, Noel McPherson sailed true to form with four places. Noel regained first place as Handicap Champion, scoring an equal 29 points for second place. Karen Paterson also had a great day on the water. With two places and all other finishes in the front group, Karen was unfortunate to lose on a countback and come home in third place and a score of 29 points.

As a Handicap event is meant to be a levelling day for all, the scores were fairly close from second down to thirteenth place with a couple of ties.

Brendan Hones a win, Phil Stevenson a win, Richard Thorpe a win, Brian Chapman, Stephen Deane a win, Narelle Derwent and Robin Tickner all had top three finishes. This has resulted in our Handicaps getting much closer together for our next day in December. We’ll need a wider start line!

Race winners were Geoff Lucas 4, Brendan Hones 1, Phil Stevenson 1, Richard Thorpe 1 and Stephen Deane 1.

Geoff Lucas took the honours for the day to win 1st place on 9 points.

Noel McPherson finished in 2nd place on 29 points.

Karen Paterson finished in 3rd place with 29 points, settled by a countback.

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

Our next Sail day is Thursday 9^th November for a Scratch Event.

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