Shagabull wins thrilling division one race, Frequent Flyer wins harbour course race, Joker wins division five

Three division one yachts featured in one of the closest finishes at Princess Royal Sailing Club for many years when they finished seconds apart after sailing a harbour course for nearly 2 1/2 hours.

Brett Hawker skippering Jessie James and Harold Keay on Shagabull were pitted against Marco Giuntoli and Craig Anderson’s Scappata, which was having its first outing for more than two seasons. The weather was ideal, with a southerly breeze that never pushed to 12 knots on Saturday.

The lead changed several times, with Keay being in front the longest.

A few yachting rules were broken towards the end of the race when Scappata and Jessie James got too close to one another, forcing Scappata to do two penalty turns.

The chase continued, with Keay getting over the line one second in front of Hawker and two seconds ahead of Scappata.

Hawker won on corrected time, with Keay taking second place and recording the fastest time in an exciting finish.

Scappata had not sailed often enough this season to be given a handicap.

Flying Fifteens also competed in a harbour course race.

Simon Lucas had FForever Young out to a handy lead very smartly, leaving Wayne North in Frequent Flyer and Aileen Lucas in Crazy to do the catching up.

North was able to oblige and closed the gap midway through the event.

Crazy battled to stay with the other two.

FForever Young was sailing as fast as it could as Lucas knew he had to have a big lead to win.

North took care of the race on corrected time.

Lucas was second and fastest, with FForever Young leaving Aileen Lucas in Crazy in third.

Five division two yachts competed in their harbour course event and Ian Johnston in Cambio stunned the other four by scooting to the lead.

Stephen Lee had Flasheart moving well and was the closest to Cambio, while Stephen Brown in Mary Maitland was struggling early, as was Chris Oldham in Joker.

Peter Bane in Dunluce with a skeleton crew was trying to stay in touch.

Disaster struck Cambio when its fore sail halyard snapped, putting it out of the race.

Joker made its move and took the lead from Flasheart, which was found wanting. Oldham took Joker over the line to a handsome victory and recorded the fastest time.

Dunluce was second with a generous handicap and Mary Maitland did well to score a third place.