Update from DeckHardware Ambassador Michael

What a regatta of contrasts. Saturday’s forecast promised much more than it delivered with Race 1 petering out to a complete glass out by the top mark for the first time. 3 boats (Mick Coalcliffe, Tony Hastings & I) picked the 90degree port bias off the start and we were the 3 boats that lead around the top mark. After spending the best part of 1hour getting to the wing mark some of the mid fleet pack had drifted down on a few zephyrs to catch the 3 of us. With our new friends and a now somewhat stable 3-4knts we were off upwind to the bottom mark. Heading back to the inside (north) of the rhumb line was the way to go with a 12knt North Easterly filling in with 200m of the leg to go. After receiving the shortened course signals at the bottom mark all that was left was a nice trapezing reach to the finish just off the top mark. I claimed Line Honours but was not far enough ahead to place on handicap due to the fast finishing fleet.

Race 2 was a much more orthodox Lake Illawarra breeze, a reasonably consistent 12-15knts from the NE. This is perfect sailing weather for me as the boat starts to easily fly a hull and powers up well. I won the start with a perfectly timed pin end start on trapeze with speed. I found a small hole up the first work and on the port tack to get to the right I cross a few transoms, but heading right proved to be a decisive strategy with another 5kts being on the eastern side of the course. I rounded the top mark with a 15sec gap to 2^nd and proceeded to extend to a 40sec gap by the wing mark. After some consistent sailing and picking the middle of the course upwind I’d extended to 1:30min by the end of the 2^nd lap over Tony Zahra. The breeze clocked about 25degrees left on the last lap which made the reaches a bit tighter and more fun on trapeze but ultimately I only managed to extend to a 2min lead by the finish which was about 1min shy of a handicap win over Tony Zahra. Still a 2^nd wasn’t to be sneezed at given another 2 races were scheduled for Sunday along with the promise of big breeze which is a personal favourite and conditions I do well in.

With the promise of big breeze for most of the day, I was keen to go. Driving across the St Georges river wasn’t looking promising with only 4-5knts to show for what was forecast as 20+. The wind increased as I got closer to Wollongong, till I got to the club and was greeted by a gusty, shifty 25knt+ Westerly which was still building. With a 10am start scheduled and a building Westerly, the race committee wisely postponed then abandoned Race 3 and rescheduled Race 4 for a 1pm start. After a bit of debate and checking the updated airport weather forecasts Warren (Dad) and I made the decision to hit the road which turned out to be the right decision with Race 4 being abandoned due to the Westerly not abating as forecast.

All up it ended as a 2^nd place on count back and only 1 place off first which given the Race 1 conditions (which was more of a lottery than good sailing) I was more than happy with.

The next regatta is Sail Sydney which may or may not happen due to very low numbers of boats entered for the catamarans. I’m lead to believe that unless 15-20boats are entered by close of registration on the 9^th then there won’t be a cat course. If that turns out the be the case I’ll likely end up helming a Tasar with a friend.

Results below.

Michael Pfeffer