VXOne Midwinters at Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron

VXOne Midwinters 2020 © Brady Lowe

Well done to the team on McGees Property Brisbane on taking out the VXOne Midwinters at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron.

Racing over the weekend was close, with some stellar performances from more boats in the fleet than not, and some moments for many crews to take away for the next regatta.

Following on from Saturday, the team on McGees were looking to keep their nose a little cleaner after having to go back and being lucky to escape a General Recall in the second race. Their starting on Day 2 was textbook, with the team now well dialled in. Owner Greg Clarke and crew Angus Sherring giving the important information to skipper Will Voerman in conditions that provided everything from 5 to 15 knots of wind, as rain squalls loomed from the west.

The Race Committee put in another great effort to run four races in the breeze that provided just enough shifts to make for interesting racing, and a couple of course changes were well executed.

The team on Mack One - VX One Sailing Team took the first bullet of the day, but a BFD in the second race meant that they would have to carry a 7th from the final race of Saturday. Meanwhile the consistency of Supervax 24/7 saw them lead going into the penultimate race.

At the conclusion of Race 6 it was all to play for, with Supervax, McGees and Mack One tied on points.

With a clean start one boat up from the Pin Mcgees led towards a looming rain line on the left hand side of the track. Mack One were very close to the line and so were positioned well to give chase. Supervax became a victim of the pin crowding and had to jibe around and take sterns at the starting gun but were up in the top 5 at the first top mark.

McGees put their positioning at the pin and going left to good use, tacking on the new pressure and leading around the top mark by 10 seconds, splitting with Mack One down the run. At the bottom there was a convergence, with Cowabunga getting into the mix with the regatta leaders.

The first half of the beat saw Mack One break left and then head back toward McGees, taking some distance, but each shift was worked to perfection by the McGees team to finally be able to consolidate at the half way point.

VX racing, though, can be won or lost downwind, and Mack One threw an early jibe to push North, while McGees carried on Starboard for a little while longer, ensuring separation that kept the game alive, but Voerman and the team picked the right moment to jibe and slowly clawed ground as the breeze faded to a soaking VMG run. In the end it was a comfortable win by the Vaikobi clad team on McGees, a maiden regatta win in this competitive class.

The win by the new team in the class, as well as some great individual race results from a number of boats, demonstrate the depth of talent in this fleet, and its unfortunately not to have the Victorians to add to that. We can't wait to see what they can do at the next meet.

With all boats pushing hard all weekend to challenge at each and every leg the VX One Midwinters 2020 was another success for this fun and friendly class.

Overall Results: