POWER YACHT CLOSING DAY – the “other” Grand Final

Even cloudy skies, cold winds and showers could not quell the enthusiasm of our brave time trial fraternity and fourteen of the fifteen nominated yachts completed the course.

If there was a bravery award, it would have been decided as clearly as the preliminary footie final between West Coast and Melbourne (for non footie followers, the Eagles smashed the Dees).  Despite the conditions, Julie and Steve Leech took to the water in their tiny little tender (which we have fondly named “Mini Mussel”). Their dedication was recognised afterwards when they were presented with a bottle of port, the sole purpose of which was to thaw them out internally.

The contest was something different this year, dreamed up by your evil Race Officer Garry Morrison and his support team, Past Commodore Frank Dalglish, Barbara Dalglish and Margaret Cooper. Every boat was required to lodge its estimated loss of points at each mark of the course. Some took the assignment very seriously while others took the lazy option and simply went for zeroes or ones at every mark.

It was the lazy options that bore out the best results however. First place went to Jim Gooding and Keith Salkeld (Open Circuit) who took the “one at every mark” option and third place went to Guy Skinner and Richard Evans (Sunhunter), who opted for zeroes everywhere, so that their differential score was the same as their points lost.  And no, that’s not a typo – Guy Skinner and Brett Morrison swapped boats for the day.  Brett’s day was destroyed before he cleared the start line, with a five second error in arrival time plus a ten point penalty for a change of speed. (Brett, you should know you can’t get away with a change of speed on the start or finish line!).

Second place went to Ian and Anne Howard (Crystal C) – they seem to have found their mojo after a win in last weekend’s Patron’s Trophy!

Least points lost was Sunhunter, leading to the observation by some smart bystander that anyone can win a time trial.  All they have to do is drive Sunhunter….. A bit unkind, really.

It’s been a busy season and as of now, your new scribe will be Amanda Watson. Thank you Amanda for your amazing dedication to the task and thank you to all those poweries who have helped me with information this season. Best wishes to our new Captain, Mark Hayman.

~ Bernie Kaaks~