Apollo Bay Sailing Club

Tell Tales

10th December 2018

We are not far into this sailing season but already it is proving to be a real beauty. Those trusty (or should that be “crusty?”) lads from Quickmatch were in control of the race this week and my oh my, didn’t they do themselves proud. 11am and after a brief briefing from Russell on what to do (or “not do”) on the duty boat it was off to set the top mark. With the warning from Russ about not placing a buoy south of the rock wall, so as not to get tangled up on the Bunbury reef, still ringing in their noggins, off they went.

At precisely 2pm the keel boats hit the line with a great tussle between Boheme and Interlude kicking the day off in style. Now, there was some suggestion post race that a few on board Boheme were shouting for Interlude to “get up” as is the right of the leeward boat when they feel they are being “squeezed”. This is something that can end in a protest in less congenial clubs but the consensus from the crew of Inter-rude was that half their crew probably couldn’t hear the bohemians and the others thought it sounded more like a “polite suggestion” rather than a serious  request. All I can say is, it was a real treat to watch.

Boheme quickly put that behind them but their next challenge would be to try and shake off (freshly returned from cruising up nth) Its Magic. And this was to be a very nice match-up. With Its Magic flying a spinnaker it was imperative for Boheme to stay in front from which position they could defend. The wind was about 10 knts which makes passing difficult and to add to the difficulty the first reach had the wind (avert your gaze now if strong sailing terms offend) pretty much straight up ya clacker, making the second reach a bit shy to carry the spinnaker on and making Its Magic’s task just a little harder.  But the highlight amongst the keel boats, for mine, was seeing the little Duncanson 28 (Inter-lopers) with spinnaker flying, charging down wind and mixing it up with the gaggle of flying fifteens that were swarming around her at one stage.  

The dinghies were also up for a good close race and Genevieve on Ziff had the measure of the spinnaker and flew it like a professional. April Dancer was ready to pounce should the crew of Ziff even blink, with Miss Molly ghosting them and Shiralee throwing everything into it to stay in touch. Greg and Wayne had a ripping first up wind leg and with the wind range and the fairly flat sea state it was looking good for Community Bank (yngling) for a while.

A dropping tide meant that as the day went on there was the chance of a lift running south along the beach for boats heading in closer on a port tack (but opinion was divided on that back at the clubhouse).10+1 had a nice day out, Wildrose had a couple of nice reaches with their asymmetric and the SS Margaret not so much.

Life is good. Come Sailing!

To find out more see our website www.apollobaysailingclub.org.au or our Facebook group - Apollo Bay Sailing Club