Apollo Bay Sailing Club

Tell Tales

19th February 2018

Thank you Huey!!

Finally the weather Gods delivered not only a glorious sunny day but a good sailing breeze as well.

And what a buzz in the harbour precinct!  The Seafood Festival’s inspired idea to bring the festival to the most scenic part of town paid off as people enjoyed eating and taking in the sights on the Whale-watching deck in front of the CoOp and surrounds. 

As part of the Festival, Apollo Bay Sailing Club staged a Match Racing Event within the harbour itself and undoubtedly provided further colour and movement in this already wonderful setting.  The event was hotly contested by 6 pairs of sailors in their Flying Fifteens with the resultant winners, Tim & Chris on Affrodite claiming the coveted Crayfish Cup. A big thanks to boat sponsors : Apollo Bay Bakery, CES Electrical, Captains at the Bay, Dave Merry Building, GOR Real Estate and Wild Dog Trading/ Home Hardware. 

But this was just the aperitif …. ABSC’s Pop-Up Bar was also in full swing bringing a whole new dimension to our usual pre-race briefing.  Some sailors were less attentive with so many new faces milling around. 

Like new-face Elaine, who I usually get to see only at Foodworks, along with her friend Joan.  Elaine confessed that she’d never been down that way before; something we hope she addresses by joining us at another sailing day.

Chatting however is not allowed when the Duty Officer is intent on getting the race buoys in place for our usual 2pm race start for the larger keel boats followed 5mins later by the dinghies.  So rush, rush, rush off we go out we go in our duty boat with the purple, opaque windscreen to set the course and are securely anchored at the start-line 10mins before countdown (see! could have chatted for at least another 5mins).

It would seem that it wasn’t just the Duty Officer who was in a rush because to our surprise we saw Quickmatch closely followed by Interlude break the start by 5 secs.  Ten+One then achieved a true start with a fraction of a second to spare.

The Individual Recall flag went up and it wasn’t long before Quickmatch did a 180 to restart but not so Interlude.  It took another 2 radio calls to raise her crew’s attention which meant they re-started only seconds before the dinghies. Apparently they’re not used to looking backwards and didn’t see the recall flag.

Its Magic may have had a more conservative start but she didn’t take long to gain the lead for the early part of the race.  However Ten+One chose the shoreline route on the next beat (the into the wind leg) and regained the lead for the remainder of the race. 

The course was awash with sails as the 5 keel boats were joined by 6 FF’s & 2 Ynglings. 

The shifting winds increased in intensity and there seemed to be many sail adjustments required; a few those gybes must have reverberated on board.  

With winds gusting to 20knts at times it was not surprising to see the Bendigo Bank Yngling return to shore with sail damage.

The Flying Fifteens seemed closely matched but did not provide any real tussles. Windswept’s boom hitting the top mark was quickly addressed with a 360 penalty. 

FFantome regained its original crew to good effect,  April Dancer continues to improve as did Euffemism.  With no Ziff on the water Affrodite had clear air and the ever reliable Wal (with resident photographer on board) showed that like Interlude – they also don’t look back.

Despite the stiff breeze Wild Rose did not repeat her strong performance of the previous week and seemed to want to vent, by mowing down the duty boat at the finish line.  Only a quick tack or round-up to port averted the rescue boat needing rescuing.

But the excitement was not over then. No. The swell had increased even further, providing the 8 or so surfers a great wave at the entrance of the harbour, thankfully without incident for the returning boats, despite Karlijn’s trepidation on Trading Post.

Back to shore, straight to the Pop-up Bar for the apré sailing, where else?? 

Heat 1     J&C Marriner Earthworks Post Xmas Series

Heat 14   Café 153 Club Championships.

Thanks To Our Sponsors

Apollo Bay & District Community Bank, Great Ocean Road Trading Post, Waterfront Motor Inn, Café 153, The Fishing CoOp, Surf-n-Fish, J&C Marriner Earthworks

Life is good. Come Sailing!

To find out more see our website or our Facebook group - Apollo Bay Sailing Club