David Thoms’ yacht K-Factor was the overall winner of the 67th Annual Cockburn Sound Regatta hosted by The Cruising Yacht Club of WA on the beautiful Cockburn Sound between Christmas & New Year.

This year the event attracted 43 entrants from almost all metropolitan clubs that sail keelboats and there were also entrants from Mandurah, Geographe Bay and a sports boat from Albany. The event starts with a race on Boxing Day from Fremantle to Rockingham (although this is not included in the point scores) followed by 4 days of racing around the Sound in windward-leeward, around the buoys & passage races. There are 3 divisions both for jib & main & fully rigged boats & a sports boat division.

The overall winner is the boat that wins its division by the largest margin. K-Factor did this well this year with just one point greater than the perfect score after a “drop”. David’s crew was composed of Lily Zampatti, Rod Harris, John Leccese, David Cole, Steve Hill and Andrew McGregor. In addition, their very snappy, bright red t-shirts won them the best-dressed crew award.

Meanwhile, Bruce Uren’s Wildfire won the fully rigged Division 3 by the narrowest of margins; a countback. David Hanham’s Random Times finished 2nd in the Division 3 JAM division. Other participants included David Atkinson’s Tapestry and now Fremantle-based Sagacious IV sailed by well-known SoPYC identity Chris Hind.

The event is incredibly well run by a huge team of enthusiastic volunteers who butter up year after year. These volunteers are dressed in identical, very loud Hawaiian-style shirts so they are easily identified and they provide a very affable atmosphere. This is indeed rather that of a country rather than a city event & there is no doubt this has a lot to do with its ongoing success. The volunteers provide a shuttle service to & from the jetty to the moored boats. TCYC provides the moorings to competitors. As usual the volunteers included our Christina Heydon looking after the application of the sailing rules & Cherry Callcott on the start boat making the announcements of timing & course details with her perfect diction & accuracy.

Typically, there is a race each morning & another in the afternoon. This gives a variety of conditions with generally light conditions in the morning & good honking sea breezes in the afternoon.

One may think that this event is only for those without family commitments at this time of year but some families use it as an opportunity to share a brilliant experience. Other skippers use the event to provide an experience for a variety of crew members who cannot sail every day and some who sail on different boats at the club. This adds to the friendly atmosphere.

The event has a good collection of sponsors who provide funds for trophies & generally keeping the cost to competitors manageable.

So, if you want to have a great time next Christmas/New Year consider nominating for this brilliant event.


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