Flying fifteens honours to Chris Oldham in Joker, Wayne North in Frequent Flyer in division two
An unseasonal south-westerly kicking in at about 20 knots with frequent gusts up to 25 knots tested skippers and crews in two fleets in last Saturday’s harbour course races.
Even the starting box crew felt the tiny building shudder from time to time.
Two fleets ventured out in the trying conditions and in division two Chris Oldham skippering Joker was outstanding.
He had an immense battle with Stephen Brown in Mary Maitland and Stephen Lee in Flasheart throughout with the lead changing several times.
The fourth boat in the fleet, Zuri, skippered by Neil Worrell opted not to use a spinnaker and trailed the fleet but was able to stay within striking distance of the leaders.
There were some hairy moments whenever a spinnaker was hoisted and Brown, with only one other crew did exceptionally well to be up with Joker and Flasheart.
Eventually Oldham pulled away and had Joker flying to the finish line to take the coveted first and fastest in a wonderful display.
Mary Maitland was rewarded with its hard work with second placing and Zuri chasing throughout gained third place.
Three flying fifteens fronted up and it was a fast and furious start for their harbour race.
As per usual Simon Lucas in FForever Young surged to the front where he stayed for the entire journey.
Wayne North also got away smartly with Frequent Flyer but struck trouble on the first spinnaker leg which allowed FForver Young to scamper well away.
Aileen Lucas in Crazy wasn’t enjoying the powerful and gusty conditions and fell well back from the other two.
FForever Young was now under pressure from North who was showing some good speed with Frequent Flyer and was slowly but surely closing the gap.
North was showing that his sailing of fifteens had improved since joining this fleet and was rewarded with a victory on corrected time.
Simon Lucas in another great performance was second and recorded fastest time.
A disappointed Lucas battled her way around to finish in third place with Crazy.
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