Boats came from NSW, VIC and SA, with crews flying in from Adelaide, Perth and Mt Isa as well to compete in a highly competitive fleet.
The first day's racing saw medium breezes, with enormous shifts, keeping everyone on their toes, in the end Rob Douglas / Doug Rawson-Harris taking out the traditional Albert Cup first race of the series. Mark Thorpe / Roddy Johnson made the best of the shifts in the second race to win that heat.
Day two saw the wind pump up around 20 knots by the third race of the day. The results were all covered by Ian McCrossin / James Cook with three firsts, putting them easily into first overall, and the breeze tiring out most of the crews very effectively.
Day three was another contrast with light winds, and a raging tide making the race a real challenge to work out how best to find wind, and avoid tide. Peter Higgins looked to have sailed a fantastic race, only to discover he was OCS, giving the race to Ed Cox / Peter Bevis. AP was then hoisted in the heat, and eventually the second race of the day was blown off at 4pm.
Day four also started under AP, having sat under the postponement flag for most of the morning, no one was very hopeful of completing the wo races scheduled for the day, let alone getting the final one completed on Sunday, with hot windless weather being the general forecast.
Once there was evidence of wind, everyone headed off for what was assumed to be a drifter like Race 6. Again Sorrento put on a great breeze, which ended up with a number of, gusts over 25 knots….perfect weather for an FD.
Having elected a new President of the class over night, Matthew Mitchell instantly stamped his authority on the class by dragging a decent starboard bias into the start line, by towing the mark around his rudder. Once that had been fixed it was again Ian McCrossin / James Cook who shot off the line, showing everyone how to make an FD literally fly upwind. He was closely pursued (as throughout the series) by Ed Cox / Peter Bevis, the younger ex-skiffies showing off to the FD class how to fly a kite on a tight reach in a good blow, when very few others attempted it, or swam when they did. All to no avail – the older, wiser team took the race, and so nearly had the series wrapped up with two to go.
The second race was a very tight affair at most marks across the fleet, but again the front tw broke away for a fight amongst themselves, with Cox / Bevis taking first with some awesome off-wind speed, and a quick last beat edging out McCrossin / Cook. McCrossin / Cook had already done enough for them to take the series, and they gladly headed for the beach when the Race Officer suggested a third race could be run to finish the regatta early, with the full complement of nine races.
Again the racing across the whole fleet was intense and close, with little between most of the boats, except of course by the end Cox / Bevis had managed to stretch away to finish with another first, leaving them only 2.8 pts behind McCrossin / Cook for the series. Robert Douglass / Douglas Rawson-Harris finished third on a count back from Peter Bartels / Charles Hawes. Mark Thorpe / Roddy Johnson were then only a further 3 points behind in 5th – a closely fought top group.
The Winners: Ian McCrossin and James Cook (Matthew Mitchell in the background)
And in Second Place: Ed Cox & Peter Bevis
3rd Place - Rob Douglass & Doug Rawson-Harris
Thanks go to the club for organising the sailing and to the travellers who made their way down to Victoria for a great fun regatta – the social scene was nearly as good as the racing, thanks to Il Presidente's ability to find excellent regatta accommodation that can host fantastic parties for the whole class.
And this is what happens to you when the pressure of racing is over, and you have won.......
