Port Lincoln Yacht Club Holdfast fleet

by Port Lincoln Your Guide on 20 Dec 2006 Saturday was the last racing day of the year for the Port Lincoln Yacht Club Holdfast fleet and the fleet was blessed with a perfect day.

Two championship races were held back to back, the first being the resail of a race cancelled several weeks ago.

Scrapatoo (Kelsy Dyer and Tom Ambrose) jumped out to an early lead in the first race and were never headed.

They, along with several other boats took advantage of a wind shift during the start sequence and managed to cross the fleet on 'port' soon after the start.

At the first mark Mermaid Sister (Maddie Whitehead and Georgina Hughes) found themselves in second place and they maintained this position throughout the race.

Curl Curl (Greta Garnaut and Briony Veldhuyzen) came in third with Truble Truble (Ashleigh Dyer and Ryder Thomas) holding off a strong challenge from Bring it On (Louise Stephens and Mark Barwick), to finish fourth.

Congratulations to Pavana (Beau Fitzgerald and Patrick Schaeffer) and Show Me the Money (Kelsey Allen and Hannah Hood), first year skippers, who both completed the course.

The second race saw Bring it On gain a clear start while Scrapatoo, Curl Curl, Overdrive II (Ben Finlayson and Ashlee Gray) and Truble Truble jostled for positions and clear air. Half way up the first beat the fleet had split and when they came back together at the first mark Bring it On was leading.

Positions changed throughout the race as the skippers tried to take advantage of the wind shifts.

Positions at the windward mark the last time were Bring it On followed by Curl Curl and then Wahine (Olivia Stephens and Amy Riordan).

Two fantastic reaching legs saw Curl Curl catch up to Bring it On making for an exciting last beat.

The first three boats sailed one way while Scrapatoo and 2Fast2Furious (Damien Thomas and Amy Perin) went another.

As they neared the finish it was very close.

Curl Curl managed to hold off Scrapatoo with 2Fast2Furious coming in third.

Mermaid Sister won both races on handicap and were rewarded for their fantastic effort by being named 'Skipper and Crew of the Week'. Well done Maddie and Georgina!

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