With some big storms passing through on Wednesday afternoon, the race committee at Whitsunday Sailing Club decided to cancel the day’s racing. So by Sunday, there were several skippers keen to get back out on the water for the last two races in the Challengers Cup series.
8 boats competed in the two races, sailed in a 10 knot easterly breeze, while the south easterly breeze did not eventuate. The race committee decided on three laps of the windward/leeward course for each race.
In the first race the battle at the front was intense, with Treasure VIII (Rob Davis) and Reignition (Charles Wallis) in close contention. After two laps the boats were locked together, but finally Reignition broke away on the last leg of the race, finishing 20 second ahead. Further back, Wobbly Boot came in third, while the two mulithulls, G’nome (Terry Archer) and Fangerang (Haydon Turnbull) were closely matched after a late start. ON corrected time, Treasure VIII took the honours over Reignition and Rossgo (Greg Hamon).
In the second race, Houdini (Rob Meizer) led the fleet from start to finish, finishing 90 seconds clear of Reignition, with G’nome again holding off Fangerang for 3rd place. Treasure VIII and Wobbly Boot made up the next places with Rossgo and Norbert G (Ghigo Casalini) rounding out the fleet. On corrected time, it was Houdini from Reignition and Rossgo, giving the overall win for the day to Reignition.
