A strong westerly of 20 plus knots gusting at one stage to over 25 knots whipped up a sea and swell for the fourth winter race sailed in the waters between Sorrento and North Beach for 13 hardy keelboat crews of HYC. Perhaps not all hardy: one crew member, used to the river of tranquility, suffering motion sickness. Better out than in. Stugeron was found to be the best pill but it was only available in the UK.

Performance of the day went to Kind of Blue (sporting the younger generation) in division 3, with an elapsed time comparable to the division 1 boat, for first and fastest by a big margin. Stuart Marks’ Tosca and Rob Bills’ Catabatic were second and third.

Greg Hill’s performance with Not Negotiable was equally impressive in division 2 chasing down Show Me, Helga and Pinta to record a first and fastest. Des and Gail Riley on Farrouk battled valiantly, one of the few to carry a kite on the shy reach to Beach, finishing second fastest and third behind Show Me (Tim Tucker). Of the 13 starts, Show Me was closest to the line at their start time, being late by only one second.

With Kerry Martin in the start tower, Resolute will have to wait for the next race to fly the kite for the second time in Division 1. Perle, however, popped their small “Dockers” kite for the shy reaches to Beach, helping to keep them ahead of fast-finishing Whispering Jack (Bruce Bradford) and Lithium (Wayne Pitcher). Lithium was the fastest.

Thanks to Kerry, Corinne Taylor and Katie Tucker for their expertise in the tower and Barry Johnson for the results.

With the AGM on August 4th, the next winter races will be August 11, 18 and 25th to conclude the winter racing season.

John Bird