MYLES White and Estelle Buys won a nail biting finish in the annual main dinghy pursuit race, Point Yacht Club’s Jonsson Cup on Saturday.
Only two seconds separated the team on the Flying Fifteen from second placed Neil Wadsworth sailing on his Halcat. White and Buys managed to sneak in on the inside of Wadsworth’s Halcat with an exciting 50 yard dash to the finish between the two boats. This was after the race was shortened due to patchy winds.
The keen Flying Fifteen sailors started on handicap with Craig Campbell and Jeff Rose breathing down their necks on the first beat. As they rounded the bottom of the sand bank, they started to make some distance just to see the competent crew of Patrick Harris and Jeremy Kriek flying their big bag and gaining up. Around the container jetty, White opted for the more direct route of hugging the jetty and not venturing into the deeper waters which worked as they started to reel in the faster Lasers.
Beating down was slow and testing then the wind completely died and turned around. On the supposed run up to the harbour mark, M18, the fleet were now dropping their spinnakers and beating again.
Buys said the bridge boat sounded that they were shortening the course, and hoisted the blue flag to signal the finish line.
“As we only had the Halcat in front of us and 50 yards to go, winning became a reality. We literally sneaked in on the inside to take the win two seconds ahead of Neil,” he said.
The North Easter course had the start situated off the Sugar Terminal set in the Maydon Channel, with the race course taking the fleet of 36 dinghies around the sand bank, down to the bottom of the channel alongside the cranes and then back to the finish by the Sugar Terminal.
A small fleet of keelers and Hobies came out to play for the Sigma Series on Sunday with only three keel boats and a handful of Hobies participating in the sunny, light conditions. This weekend sees the Hobie family sharing their love for their sport with the power lessons, inviting people who would like to learn how to sail can join them for a two day sailing session.
