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Tales 21st January 2006
7th heat Club Championship & 1st
heat of the Post Christmas Series
It has been suggested before that it is not very difficult
to confuse a fleet of sailors from Apollo Bay. I stand
by this suggestion. Light but beautiful conditions
prevailed on Saturday. For once we made good on our
word to run a short course race prior to the main
race of the day. Well, this proved all too much. Most
had no idea this race had started. 2/3’s of
those that did headed to the wrong mark. Those that
didn’t asked a barrage of embarrassing (for
them) questions of the rescue boat. Such as….”is
it a port course?” (green flag was flying).
And……..”has the Blue Peter been
up yet?” along with…….”which
way do we go?” Talk about needy!!! Of course
we excuse those new to the sport, but these enquires
were put by seasoned sailors who have been looking
at the same set of flags every Saturday arvo for the
past 10+ years. Pete Geeks and Stew Mathews were the
only ones to finish the short course race (and even
their course of action looked questionable at times!)
For the main race, the keel boats insisted on being
started first due to the light conditions. The duty
team obliged, but come start time 2/3’s of them
were nowhere to be seen? Needless to say the start
line had still not been cleared (of keel boats) by
the time the dinghies were due to take off 5 minutes
later. Luckily most of them (dinghies) were still
in a state of confusion and were late also. Eventually
the main race was underway for both classes. The duty
team not missing a beat despite major dog alerts smack
in the middle of the start sequence (thanks again
Heather for the doggy rescue and Sandra back at ‘turtle
base’ for the doggy crèche).
The conditions were so lovely that there are no dramas
to report for a change. Although, Bill Gross did take
a first peek at his new spinnaker (and mowed down
the old boys in Interlude in the process), but one
peek was all he was to get. Unfortunately he tore
it on the attempted second hoist. Bad luck Bill, time
to get out that most used sailing tool – the
cheque book. Great to see a bit of colour from the
keel boat contingent though. Finally, the challenge
has been made. Will we see the other three keel boats
depart from their normal practice and actually hoist
kites as well? There will not be any staying with
Bill if they do not.
Peter Bourne had two rookies on board in son, Julian
and Jessie Craddock and sailed a credible race. Gazza
had AJ on board trialling the usually ill fated ‘hubby
and wife combo’ on the 505. If they hadn’t
have been so late to the start they could well have
been in the placings. Was Gary’s little ‘puppy’
the cause of this uncharacteristic display of tardiness?
No-one was game to ask!! Dougie and Cpt Col sailed
an unremarkable race but remarkably did not break
a spinnaker pole. Number 7 should be lucky, surely.
In The Blue with rookie helm Andrew Smith holding
the stick held the Miss Molly boys back until the
last leg. Nick Martin was full of advice for the start
boat early in the day. The start boat now has this
bit of advice for Nick. Put up a spinnaker!!!!
Oh yeah…………..if anyone sees
an anchor, weight and rope minus a buoy (not) floating
around about half 1 nm SE of the breakwater could
you please return it to the club. The Race Management
Committee (Russell & Lids) would appreciate it
and not to mention the Treasurer as this is the second
anchor lost this year.
Handicap Results:
1st. Tumbleweed (B Gross & cast of thousands)
2nd. NYAWB (Geeks & Stew)
3rd. Interlude (The Old Boys
Yardstick Results:
1st. Tumbleweed (B Gross & cast of thousands)
2nd. Miss Molly (Capt Col & Dougie)
3rd. NYAWB (Geeks & Stew)
Thanks to Beachfront Motel and the Great Ocean Hotel
for their sponsorship of the Apollo Bay Sailing Club.
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