A south-westerly breeze of 10 to 15 knots was ideal for close racing between Sorrento and Scarborough in the third consistency race for keelboats from Hillarys Yacht Club on Sunday November 19.

Fresh from competing in the offshore Coventry race the day before, Mark Pitt’s First 35, Mulberry continued on from their 2nd and 3rd places on PHS and IRC with a win in division one. Fastest around the course was Bad Habits (Ian Holder) in second place by just 13 seconds with Perle third.

In division two Ray Murphy’s Pinta continued their successful run, despite being over the line early earning a recall, with another big win, some six minutes ahead of Blue Chip (Keith and Deborah Fisk) and Helga (Mark Taylor). Covert Operation (Bart Brouwer) was fastest by more than five minutes but was way out of the pennants. After three successive last places the evidence is there for a handicap re-boot. On the ORC rating which is based on boat and sail measurements, Covert Operation had their third win, which is some consolation.

After a tussle with Whispering Jack (Bruce Bradford) to get the favoured start tower end of the line, narrowly won by Deckchairs Overboard (Neil Harrison), the two greyhounds of the division three fleet continued the battle with Whispering Jack fastest by two minutes however Deckchairs won the race comfortably on handicap. In second place was a Beneteau Oceanis 46, Kind of Blue (Boyd Timler) with Hard Evidence (Peter Hibberd) third in the eight boat fleet.

The second day of racing in the North Coast Series will be November 26 and the following week a full turn-out of boats and crews in colourful shirts is expected for the Chris Grant Memorial Race.

John Bird

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