Trophies of silver trays for the winners of the Ladies Skippers’ Race wasn’t sufficient to draw a huge crowd and with boats away on the Bunbury-Geographe Bay cruise and also Race Week in the same waters, it was left to the diehards to ensure races took place.

The light zephyr of three knots fluctuating from nor-east to sou-west at the start was a challenge for ladies taking the helm for the first time however when it filled in to ten knots, frustration levels went down considerably. Course Q, used last year, was selected again, providing an opportunity for some upwind work to Foam (kite initially) and Anchor and spinnaker runs to Sorrento, Marina and the finish line.

In Division one Elissa Stevenson was once again at the helm of Whispering Jack and after a duel with Blue Chip (Division two) went away to record a first and fastest from Perle (Margaret Neville) and Deckchairs Overboard (Wendy Harrison and Sue Osborne).

Laura Wheeler, on the helm of Blue Chip, sailed really well to have the second fastest time overall for the day, including fastest in Division two and first on corrected time. Viktoria Herczegh took the helm of Show Me and had the big yellow spinnaker filled superbly, taking second place ahead of Volant with Nicole Fourie on the helm.

No stranger to helming, having come up through the dinghy section, Bindi Vitales-Jones repeated last year’s success with a win in Division three on Intuition. Kylie Roll was happy with a fastest time and second place on Y-Knot whilst Amanda Timler on Kind of Blue was third. Kind of Blue came away from the Bunbury-Geographe Bay cruise to participate, which was appreciated by all. Lisa Perry took the helm of Stelfred again, for fourth place.

First over the start-line, rewarded with a refreshment, were Deckchairs Overboard, Blue Chip and Y-Knot in their respective divisions.

Many thanks to the start-finish team of Rob Gouldsmith, Sandy Grant, Jill Tanner, Gary Kaye and Louise Harvey.

John Bird