It’ll be Freezing, Windy and Raining, They Said!
Power Yacht Opening Day was a roaring success last Saturday. The planned official party review of the fleet was moved from the end of Jetty 3 to Ben and Nadene Townend’s beautiful Fairline 55, Catalina, positioned alongside the start box, in response to a weather forecast that warned of cold temperatures, strong wind gusts and a probability of rain.
Rod Thomas, the guest of honour, proudly related the story of his father Eric and the rise and fall of Thomascraft boats before declaring the season open.
In complete contrast to the weather forecasts, skies cleared and winds dropped to around ten knots, making for a beautiful day on the water. Morrie Stevens gathered together a motley pirate crew to claim the trophy for the best dressed themed boat, while Darryl Wilkes and Mary Vukovich draped Out on Business in flags and tinsel to win the best dressed traditional boat.
The season’s first time-trial was overseen by Brian Smith, standing in for Garry Morrison, who is overseas to attend his son Brett’s wedding to Dilana. We won’t be seeing too much of Garry for a while, for when he returns from his current trip, he is off for a round-Australia adventure with Dave and Fonny on Fonster. John Meldrum has volunteered to take the reins this season, but for the first few weeks, he too is on an overseas holiday.
Bob Wright, who later sheepishly acknowledged loading up the wrong course sheet, set what may well be a new record in points lost, amassing an impressive total of 2942 points.
Full results are available on Sportspage, but the winners of the Commodore’s Trophy, despite some alleged tricky play with the throttles on the boat, were John and Lynne Cooper on Purrfect completing the course with the loss of only 5 points. In the port fleet, Ian “Rowdy” Blanckensee and Dave Morrison did best, losing seven points.
Next Saturday it’s back to serious business with the first consistency event of the season, the Sherwell Memorial Trophy.
Click on the images below to see a gallery of the event.
