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Lady Skippers Race 4th May 2019

Seventeen boats raced last Saturday in the Lady Skippers race, the traditional Inshore Summer Season finale.  Conditions were an improvement on last year’s windless day with a ten-knot westerly at the start.  The breeze eased up over the afternoon making it a little challenging when beating into the substantial incoming swells making it a long afternoon on the water.  All boats were skippered by women, many of them regular competitors as crew or skippers in the inshore series.

Seven boats raced in Division One with the addition of offshore boats Enterprise (skippered by Maddie Flynne) and Fat Wallet Lost (skippered by Wendy Tinning).  Enterprise was first and fastest ahead of Fat Wallet Lost with Aquila, co-skippered by Kimbra Bridges and Elke McAlindon (taking a break from Race Control duties) in third place. The remainder of the fleet were Witchy Woman (Jaye Martin), Zubenubi (Stephanie Gondinoudis), Sand Crab’s Disco (Robyn Martin), and Gumboot IV (Margot Matthews).

Division one saw six boats race with another competitive start.  Majhong (skippered by Karen Koedyk) took first and fastest from Eufarria (skippered by Kath Moulden) with Minke (skippered by Vicki Delfos) in third place.  The remainder of the fleet were Soon (Iwona Cydejko), Pipedream III (Frances Hammond and Sue Girvan) and Freddie Fudpucker (Fiona).  Pipedream III was unlucky with a bad asymmetric spinnaker wrap that saw them drop to last place and Freddie Fudpucker retired.

Four boats race in JAM Division but two retired in the dying breeze – Big A (Susan Anderson) and Polaris (Briana Kerr).  The Longboat (skippered by Annie Otness) took first and fastest from Medusa (skippered by Lorraine).

Results were announced after the race by Inshore Captain Brian Cooper and the Shields were presented by Rear Commodore sail Connor Moran, with Division One results being quickly recalculated after it was realised there were two boats missing from the results – apologies to all concerned.  Thanks go, as always, to our Race Control Team on Success.  Full results can be found on www.sportspage.com.auAdditional photos from Chris Bender can be found on OneDrive.

 

Race Report by Frances Hammond, photos by Chris Bender.