Whitsunday Sailing Club Lady Skippers race on Pioneer Bay

by Ian Grant on 4 Jun 2012 A spanking South East trade wind spiced with gusts to 25 knots provided a supreme test of fresh wind sailing in the Whitsunday Sailing Club Lady Skippers race on Pioneer Bay last week.

The combination of sea spray gusty breeze and a lumpy seaway presented the resolute deputy skippers with a not so ideal afternoon for a relaxing sail for the important points in the 2012 Lady Skippers championship.

It was a dusty afternoon in the warm Whitsunday Islands however Damien Suckling realised his 2006 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race Performance Handicap champion the Jutson 42, Another Fiasco, was in good hands with deputy skipper Donna Fornasiero at the helm.

Another Fiasco has the reputation of being a star performer when the wind velocity presses the leeward rail and her female skipper did no harm to the moderate to the fresh wind sailing reputation when she helmed the sloop to rare line honours and corrected handicap double.

They crew relentlessly applied the required attention to sail trim while also packing the body weight on the weather rail which ultimately allowed Another Fiasco to firm a strong grip on line honours while Kathryn Galloway (Queensland Marine Services) and Kevin Fogarty’s Twister capably helmed by Tania Watson settled into a match race for the minor places.

While Another Fiasco predictably dominated the race for the first to finish trophy the crews manning the deck on the smaller and slower Queensland Marine Services and Twister settled into their own tactical dog-fight for the more important corrected handicap honours.

But they faced an uphill battle when Another Fiasco continued to stretch her lead and appeared to become a distinct challenger to outpace her high handicap when skipper Donna Fornasiero completed the fresh wind test with an impressive performance.

They completed the course with a runaway five minute nine second win over Queensland Marine Services while Twister hung on to claim third another 42 seconds astern.

All three crews naturally remained focused on the corrected handicap result where the Another Fiasco crew were rewarded when they were officially announced as the winner.

However it was close with the narrow margin of 12 seconds separating Another Fiasco and Queensland Marine Services while Twister filled third another one minute 43 seconds off the pace.