Buoy Course 2 – Autumn Series

After a dominant display in Saturday’s Buoy Race, Zoe has now taken two wins from two starts in the Townsville Cruising Yacht Club’s Autumn series. Zoe was able to take the handicap and line honours double with Farrago and Mach 1 second and third on handicap respectively.

The course was 3 laps of a windward-return buoy course held off the Strand. The 10 to 15 knot north-westerlies made for slightly different conditions to the usual northeasterly sea breezes.

The start saw a majority of the boats opting to head into the shore and starting at the buoy end of the start-line. It was tight between Rock n Roll and Zoe at the buoy end, with Rock n Roll about a metre to leeward of Zoe. Zoe sailed over the top of Rock n Roll and was able to continue into the shore to find a favourable wind shift.

At the top mark, spinnakers were set for the run to the bottom mark. Feral’s spinnaker set was interrupted mid hoist with the halyard releasing and the spinnaker falling back to the deck. A crew member was sent up the mast to retrieve the halyard so that the spinnaker could be re-hoisted.

Zoe continued to extend her lead on the other boats as race went on. Crew member Wes Bailey said, “We were at the top end of the wind range for our big sails, and with a full crew on board were able to maintain excellent boat speed.” By the end of the race Zoe went within two-boat lengths of lapping The Major and was almost a full leg in front of her nearest rivals.