Running the Rhumblines

by Ian Grant on 20 Jan 2003 Jungle Juice the former Australian Adams 10 champion skippered by Graham Jiggins was forced to survive a course long match race to win the Whitsunday Sailing Club Division 1 Bay race.

This sloop has had some famous skippers including World Champion Peter Sorensen at her helm but few have enjoyed racing her more than her present owner skipper Graham Jiggins and crew.

They have enjoyed the challenge of matching speed with a mixed range of designs to record a consistent score in the battle for this seasons Club championship.

Jungle Juice the highest handicap rated yacht in the fleet in terms of sailing time produced one of her best performances during the 1 hour 34 minutes 10 second spirited match race with the Scott and Peter Millar skippered X2 before claiming a 49 second line honours win.

The battle to record the fastest corrected time was even closer with Jungle Juice taking the line and handicap honours with a ‘nail biting’ 17 second margin.

It was that close forcing the Jungle Juice crew to recheck the course times before they sailed back to the marina.

Both Jungle Juice and X2 set the tactical trend matching each other in a fairly intense battle where they each shared the chance of winning while Rush Hour (Warren Smith) and Wobbly Boot (Craig Piccinelli) staged a similar close race before Rush Hour claimed third with a 30 second margin.

Margaret C (Keith Wallwork), Idle Time (Kevin Fogarty) and Elyara (Jeff Brown) staged an equally exciting race for the important Club championship points in the Division 2 class race.

Idle Time rating .755 on Performance Handicap completed the shorter course race in 1-14-10 almost 2 minutes clear of the match racing Elyara, which just held out the Rob Davis, skippered Breakaway by 8 seconds.

However Margaret C was the star performer sailing above her handicap rating to spoil the post race celebrations for the Idle Time crew who felt they had sailed well enough to win the line and handicap double.

Skipper Wallwork and crew had the Murray Kennedy skippered Fallen Angles to thank in their role as the pace setter in a private match race that ultimately allowed Margaret C to set a ‘bench mark’ with her 33 second win over Idle Time followed another 42 seconds later by Elyara.