2011 Batemans Bay Regatta

The 2011 Batemans Bay Regatta will be held on April 9th and 10th.  Traditionally the Batemans Bay Regatta is held on the weekend closest to ANZAC Day. However, in 2011 ANZAC Day will be on Easter Monday. Holding the regatta over Easter would clash with NSW Championships in several classes so the regatta will instead be held two weekends earlier. NSW schools break up on April 8th, giving NSW based sailors the opportunity to have an extended family break in Batemans Bay.
Home » Sailing Report - 2 Bays Classic

Sailing Report - 2 Bays Classic

“Batemans Bay Sailing Club held the annual Bengelo Property Services Broulee Race last Saturday. It was a beautiful day to take in the scenic coastline between Batemans Bay and Broulee. The course took the fleet of nine yachts from a start off Snapper Island to a mark off South Broulee Beach, around the outside of the Island giving the Pink Rocks surf break a seamanlike offing (more on this later), around another mark off North Broulee Beach and back to a finish line off Casey’s Beach. Race officer Peter Connell set a pin end favoured start line. Lachlan Brown and his crew aboard “Ghoster”  cracked the perfect start although, sadly, this was the highlight of their day.
 
The fleet had a tight reach out to Black Rock in a 10 to 15 knot easterly. The beam reach which followed to Burrewarra Point was perfect for the asymmetric spinnakers set by “Wishful Thinking” (Andrew Bain) and “Fractious” (Tim Devlin). The yachts squared up around Burri for the run down to Broulee. “Wishful Thinking” put in a spinnaker drop which was conservative to say the least and allowed “Black Velvet” (Matty and Peter Walsh) to catch right up to them.
 
The swells were breaking a long way out from Broulee Island particularly in the sets. The crew aboard “Periwinkle” (Tony Sutton) had a heart stopping moment when they realised a huge swell was about to break on top of them. Had it caught them beam on the 8m yacht would have been rolled over, dismasted or worse. They threw in a tack so as to meet the swell head on whereupon it broke over them from about the height of the mast spreaders. Fortunately they emerged unscathed, if a little shaken.
 
While this was happening the bulk of the fleet was working up from North Broulee to Burrewarra. This was tactically the most interesting part of the course. Ron Spelman skippering “The Shed” judged the wind shifts to perfection, tacked onto starboard around Burrewarra and then partook in a round or two of drinks with the crew as they enjoyed the reach home. “Black Velvet” finished with an elapsed time of 3 hours 49 minutes, edging out “Wishful Thinking” for line honours by a minute.
 
 A relaxed approach paid off for “The Shed” when she finished equal 1st on performance handicap. Level on phs time was “Totally Mild” which is sailing better every time Gus McDonald and his crew taker her out. Third was “Apostrophe” (David McNicol and Tim Davis) in a much improved performance. On IRC “Black Velvet” had a deserved victory from “Wishful Thinking” and “The Shed”. The post race barbeque was used to raise funds for the Victorian Bushfire Appeal. Simon Lowth of Bengelo Property Services contributed the sponsorship money to this cause.”