Taree – Manning Point Race Recap

 Hi All,

With the first VS association races run last weekend at Taree & Manning Point, it seemed appropriate for a quick recap.  I believe there is a detailed race report coming so I won’t go into too much detail here.

First of all the regatta race times & full results are posed on the web.  Official State & Travellers results are yet to be posted (because I am still updating the spreadsheets!!) but at this stage both series are the same.  You can see for yourself it was pretty close racing on Saturday & therefore plenty of smiles on Saturday night.  More on the racing later.

Taree club always makes us very welcome & we were privileged to be invited the weekend the club dedicated some new training boats to past members.  Amongst those honoured were Steve Masters - VS Life member, Dallas Eggins - multiple VS championship winner, and Wal Humphries – our recently passed mate & VS stalwart.  The new little training boats named after these guys look good fun & the kids were having a great time on the water.  I’m sure those honoured would be smiling.

So to the smiles of Saturday night?  Maybe because of some refreshments, but I think it was in relief that there was no more tacking & gybing that day!  A tricky breeze & a bit of traffic meant many changes of direction but to give credit, I don’t think I saw any swims in the race.  (We can forget one by Firestorm after the finish – I am trying too…).  All boats finished fairly close together with plenty of position swapping throughout the race. 


The fleet was down in numbers a little but it was nice to see Alex, Peter & Myff on the water in Marengo.  The boat is from Hawkesbury so if you think about it you might be able to reason the name.  Another change in the fleet is the latest Stowe Australia.  Gordon & the boys have quietly upgraded the boat (it is now the old Dynamic route).  Once they get used to the boat I expect them to step up another rung in the fleet.

Sunday at Manning Point saw the fleet rig in very slight breeze, but by the time we started the sea breeze was kicking nicely.  The slant of the wind resulted in a slightly shorter course than usual.  We chose to do 5 laps anyway, and I think that was a good choice.  By the time the fleet finished, less than an hour later, the breeze had built to 20 knots and again there were many tired sailors looking for a quiet lie down.  Today the fatigue was not only down to tacking & gybing; there was a few swims too.  Unfortunately many of these were due to breakages (rudder pins were popular) or hitting the bottom.  But it wouldn’t be a Taree weekend without a centreboard in the bottom, would it?

A reminder the next regatta is at Hawkesbury on 5th & 6th November.

Hopefully see you then.

John