Slick Wild One claims division one honours yet again

Three Flying Fifteens started in warm, balmy conditions, with the temperature in the low-30s as Albany’s heatwave continued last Saturday.

A steady south-easterly about 13 knots made for pleasant sailing as the three yachts competed in a harbour course.

As usual, Simon Lucas had FForever Young out in front, but only just, as Aileen Lucas in Crazy was pushing him all the way.

Wayne North had a good start with Frequent Flyer but dropped off the pace as the more experienced Lucas duo jumped away.

FForever Young then slipped away from Crazy until a mishap with its spinnaker allowed Crazy the opportunity to pass and head to the finish.

FForever Young recovered and gave chase, but Crazy held its lead and crossed the line by the narrowest of margins — a mere two seconds — to score the double of first and fastest.

Simon Lucas was gallant in defeat and took second place, with Wayne North further back in third place.

Flying Fifteen sailors have a busy day when they race.

They begin by wheeling their boats down into the water, pulling trailers out to allow the next boat in. They must then rig up at the pontoon before competing in their race.

Then it’s back to the pontoon to de-rig, pull each boat out to hose down and, all co-operating quite well, parking each boat and putting the covers on before showering and changing for a drink at the bar.

Division one had two competing in a King George Sound race and Murray Deere in Wild One was too big and too quick for Geoff Oliver’s Excitabull.

Deere sailed faultlessly to maintain a handy lead throughout and although Oliver was coming home at a great rate under spinnakerhe had the misfortune to go prawning.

The yacht stopped dead in the water and he lost all hope of a handicap win as Deere took the coveted first and fastest leaving Oliver in second place.

Division 2 had three competing in a King George Sound event and the all-conquering Stephen Lee in Flasheart showed the way over Stephen Brown in Mary Maitland and Neil Worrell in Zuri.

Brown sailed well to get maximum speed from his boat but Lee was just too fast.

Zuri, lagging well back, retired.

Flasheart went on its merry way to record another first and fastest in a fine display and Brown did his best to score a further second place.

Division 3 sailed a harbour course and Rob Cridge in Noel Robbins just gets better with each outing, easily accounting for Mark Paynter in Serenita. The gap at the finish was huge with Cridge adding another double to his impressive tally.

Paynter, though well beaten on the day, enjoys his sailing and is biding his time.

Two Vipers had a match race over a harbour course, with Chris O’Keefe in Chinese Moccasin doing battle with Gary Eaton in Alice.

O’Keefe is an experienced Viper skipper and gave Eaton a reasonable handicap.

Eaton who has sailed in division 2 for many seasons is being converted to the Viper class and is getting the hang of these speedy yachts.

Eaton trailed O’Keefe but won on corrected time while Chinese Moccasin recorded fastest time.