Peter Fell
A sunny but cool day greeted keen sailors for the third day of the inter sailing series on the Tweed River at Fingal on Sunday May 16.
A shifty and gusty southerly of eight to 15 knots promised some exciting competition for those who ventured out onto the river.
The first race of two supposedly ‘short’ sprint races took over 80 minutes for the first boats to finish.
The start of the race saw a number of Lasers side by side as they fought to get an advantage up the long first work, playing the shifts and asserting their right of way on starboard.
Back in the fleet the Corsairs were pushing up the course as well and contributing to an unscheduled swim by Mauri in his Laser when he was looking well placed after a finely crafted start from the port end of the line.
The rounding of the windward mark didn’t all go according to plan for Peter. He had to perform a 360 degree turn after causing another Laser to have to avoid him, and Andy hitting the mark due to the tide and having to do a turn as well.
Close racing throughout the fleet followed on through the next eight legs of the course, with one of the NS14s seen to have their work cut out with main, jib and spinnaker proving a handful in the gusty conditions.
The NSW Maritime launch kept an eye on proceedings at the ocean end of the course while the fleet spread out over the race course.
Over the length of the race, the lead changed several times, but first over the line at the end was Peter Fell in a Laser, followed by Kate Yoemans in a smaller Laser rig, then Wayne Culph (visiting from Harwood), Craig Foley and Mauri Meyer.
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