Division-two yachts join forces with sole division-one boat to form mixed fleet in first race of the new year

Six division-two yachts were again joined by a lone division-one boat to form a combined fleet along with their own division-two competition in a flying-start harbour course event on Saturday January 4.

The event was sailed in a steady southerly at around 12 knots with the odd gust to 15 knots.

In the combined fleet race, Brett Hawker in Jessie James showed the way but a navigational error saw him lose the lead to Stephen Lee’s Flasheart, Stephen Brown in Mary Maitland, and Josh Hughes in Joker, who had opted to sail with jib and mainsail.

Hawker, now chasing, had to make up a lot of ground to take the lead again, but now had no chance of a place as he had a massive handicap.

Mark McRae, skippering Sicarius, was doing well with only one crew, and good spinnaker work enabled them to keep well in touch with the leaders.

Lee was doing extremely well with Flasheart, and stayed in second place thanks to excellent crew work.

Mary Maitland and Sicarius were match racing for a place, and it was anyone’s race.

Joker continued to be a threat even without a spinnaker, and Zuri, fresh from a win in the last race of 2024, had trouble with a wayward spinnaker and lost valuable time.

Jessie James crossed the line first, but on corrected time was relegated to sixth position.

Flasheart, which had been the leading division-two yachts throughout, was awarded first place, beating Sicarius by a mere two seconds. Sicarius took second place in a great performance, with Mary Maitland in third.

In the division-two results, McRae was declared the winner with Sicarius, with Flasheart second and Mary Maitland third in an interesting race indeed.

Four Flying Fifteens competed in a flying-start harbour course event, and it was evident from the beginning it was going to be a close encounter for handicap honours.

As usual, Simon Lucas in FForever Young set the early pace just ahead of Wayne North in Frequent Flyer, Aileen Lucas in Crazy, and Eden Gray in Flying Flounder.

Lucas had bolted away from the rest of the fleet, knowing with his huge handicap he’d need to have a big gap in the field to be able to win.

Youngster Gray with his father Benn as crew, were sailing well to handicap and looking a threat.

Frequent Flyer and Crazy were having their own match race as they tried to get close to FForever Young ,which went on to cross the line first.

However, the winner was Flying Flounder, which won by 22 seconds ahead of FForever Young, which was second and fastest.

Crazy was third, and only five seconds in front of Frequent Flyer in a fascinating race.