Brighton Ladies' Skipper Series - Victory despite weather gods failure

by Lennie Beattie on 29 May 2013 Despite the weather gods failing completely on Saturday, a quick revamp of the sailing program for Sunday rescued victory from the jaws of disaster for the 23 boats lined up to compete in the Brighton Ladies' Skipper Series (BLiSS).

After racing was abandoned on Saturday, Sunday's planned passage race was replaced by two shorter races, ensuring a result for the series, aswell as for RBYC's Associates Cup and the final race of the Port Phillip Women's Championship Series (PPWCS).

In BLiSS Division One, Audacious took the crown in IRC and PHS, but was pipped by Under Capricorn for AMS.

Audacious skipper Tracey Baldwin said that Audacious is a mega team effort. 'If everyone does not perform individually, the boat does not perform. But everyone sailed their best possible today - enough to get us over that line!'

Caroline Killick, Under Capricorn skipper, puts her performance down to 'picking a good-looking, young and virile crew', adding 'but they couldn't come so I had to make do with this lot!'

'We picked the right sails, picked the breeze, sailed in clear air and made very few mistakes, Caroline said.' Caroline's mainhand, PJ, said it was really about her listening to her crew. 'A good helm lets the crew do their jobs and gets on with their job. Otherwise, you might as well sail Lasers.'

In Division Two, Nouannie couldn't be stopped, taking all three prizes. Crew member Cath Beaufort said they had an excellent second race. 'The crew work was fantastic - and we were really excited when we got the hoot!'

One of the smallest boats in the fleet, the lovely Amazing Grace fought hard to secure second place on PHS. 'We were focused for the entire race,' said skipper Patricia Laverty. 'We use everything we could to our advantage.'

BLiSS full results

The Associates Cup - a race started in 1980 following the 1979 legislation that made the exclusion of women from clubs illegal (yes, really, that was only 1979!) - was won by RBYC's Vanessa Twigg sailing her and her partner's boat Serious Yahoo.

'We were worried after Saturday that there wouldn't be any wind on Sunday, but the race committee did an excellent job in changing the format and making sure we got two races in before the wind died again. We had two really good starts - thanks to the training weekends we had done previously!'

Second in the Associates Cup was Audacious and third Republica. 'It was about team work,' said Republica skipper Robyn Studham. 'The starts were a bit hairy, but after that, we got going and had a great day.'

Associates Cup Link to: full results

The prizes didn't stop at the race winners. The 160 attendees at the post-racing luncheon shared the spirit of competition as awards were given for such blunders as the widest mark rounding, the most courageous start and the best wineglass!

Kathryn de Garis, skipper of the 'widest mark rounding' laughed saying they were having so much fun on Allegresse that they didn't want to come in! 'Actually, we didn't notice the shortened course on the second race and went round the original mark. It was an error that may have cost us the trophy though - we were smokin' in the first race!'

The 'bad hair day' (an award actually intended for a 'bad day on the water') went unclaimed, since race officer Paul Pascoe - who had been asked to nominate - said there was no winner since everyone looked fantastic!' Aahhh.

BLiSS' Sunday race 1 was also the final race in the Port Phillip Women's Championship Series (PPWCS). Trophies will be awarded at a presentation on Friday 31st May.

For more info, click here