It was a great day for sailing on Saturday when Batemans Bay Sailing Club opened the sailing season with a Bay Cup race. The format was a handicap start, where the slower boats get a headstart over the quicker boats based on previous performances. Theoretically all the boats finish at the same time.
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Tony Sutton, Celia and Robin Davey have restored the Farr 1020 yacht "Moonmist" to racing trim and were racing her for the first time. They sold their S80 "Avior" to Peter Paterson who was making his BBSC debut sailing single-handed.
A fleet of eight boats headed out to greet race officer Dave Magill and his trusty sidekick Terry Paton aboard the committee boat "Clarence the Clocker". There was a south east breeze which scarcely reached 5 knots. From a start line near Snapper Island, the boats worked up to the marine park middle mark. The breeze backed ESE making the next leg to Caseys Beach into a square run. The next leg was a reach over to Square Head. The race was shortened to finish there.
"Avior" led early in what were perfect S80 conditions. "The Shed" (Ron Spelman) was next to start. Ron had a full complement of crew on board for the first time in a while and they all looked keen. "Moonmist" was off next while the somewhat more cruisey yachts "Valhalla" (Dion Perrins) and "Xanthia" (James Gardiner) were supposed to make ground on her. However, "Moonmist" sailed away to a convincing lead with only the Adams 10.6 sister ships "Accolade" (Lachlan Brown) and "Attitude" (Simon Byrne) making any sort of impression.
"Moonmist" took the win from "Accolade" and "Attitude". "Accolade" got the fastest time. In Division 2 "Hobo" (Peter Withington) scored a convincing victory. Full results are up on the Batemans Bay Sailing Club website www.bbsc.org.au. The next BBSC keelboat race is on Saturday, October 19.
