Throughout the night the sea breese continued, unabated it kept the evening cool and the mozzies away from the BBQ. By Sunday morning the breese had built to a solid nor' easter. Any late riser would find the beach already windswept. But for a man with a Cat' on the back of his car, it was purrrfect weather for fast sailing.
The idyllic location of the sailing club, nestled between the swaying palms and out of the strengthening nor'easter saw a small gathering of cat's from along the coast. Sam Breaden and crew had travelled from Newcastle and John White had travelled down from Port Macquarie to sail on the fast flat water of Wallis Lake.
As the breese levelled off and blew at a consistent 15-20 knots the fleet set out for an afternoon of three 'back to back' races.
The wind had gathered strength and as the boat raced out to the start line, Sam Breaden was already in the water with a nasty nose dive and pitch pole. Recovering well they made the start with the breese now averaging 17 knots and gusting well over 20 knots.
It was Tim Haffner, with Tom Dalton on board as crew and tactician who had a good start and were working well to the top mark, followed by Sam Breaden then Ray Muld and Ross Kneebone. Closely followed by the newer combinations of Fabric Boone and John White on a Taipan 4.9 then Les Turner flying fast and solo on his NACRA 16sq. finally across the lin were Tom Haffner and Alan Pursch then Scott Machon and Bryce Haffner.
The strong winds during the first race were making it tough and it was Tim Haffner who went in first with a solid capsize after some gear failure. It was close running initially until Sam Breaden showed his skill and faster boat speed took him away to a solid win. With Haffner in the water it was Scott Machon/Bryce Haffner second followed by Ray Muld/Ross Kneebone and then Les Turner.
As the storm loomed the winds eased and the second race was sailied in a more comfortable 10-15 knots. This time the start was close and it was a well sailed race, again Sam Breaden 1st, S. Machon 2nd, R.Muld 3rd.
By now a few of the starting boats had puled out due to gear breakages and The final race saw only 5 boats line up for the start as the winds again increased in strength as the storm had now passed.
It was a flying start as the fleet descended on the start line with only seconds remaining. It was Machon/Haffner who had the gun start and led the fleet away closely followed by Boone/White and Muld/Kneebone. Sam Breaden was left to sail lower and off the wind but was gaining places.
On the return run for the final race it was Machon/Haffner in front at the bottom mark and looking in control of the race, but as they rounded the bottom mark they broke their mainsail head and sadly then drifted off unable to finish. Sam Breaden took the lead and again finished in style with three wins from three races.
Racing next weekend is at South West Rocks for the NACRA state titles and the Darren Lowder Memorial trophy.
Sailing will return to Forster Sunday 18th March
Scott Machon
