West Harbour Summer (Pursuit) Series: Prepare for the Last Race this Sunday

March 27, 2014

Next Sunday the 30th of March marks the final race (race 6) of the first West Harbour Summer (Pursuit) Series.

The idea was to build on the success of last years very successful West Harbour Winter Series that saw 89 entries from the Balmain Sailing Club, Drummoyne Sailing Club and the Greenwich Flying Squadron.

Hoping to make the Summer Series a little different we decided to run it as a pursuit series. By race 2 most competitors appeared to have gotten the gist of their start times being adjusted based on their performance in the previous race (although one or two competitors weren't thrilled with having to chase the entire fleet!).

BSC's Pat Nash on his Etchells 'Samson' leads Division 1 with 18 points, clear of DSC's Steve Piper on his Adams 10 'Coconut Telegraph' (24) in second place and DSC's Adam Baggett's Farr 1020 'Tenspeed' (27) in third. BSC's Peter Oitmaa's Etchells 'Saaremaa' (31) remains very much in contention for a podium finish. Competitors have yet to have 1 drop (discard) applied, which will make things interesting.

In Division 2 DSC's Jeff Finnegan's Endeavour 26 'Witchtways 2' shares equal first place with BSC's Carol Criddle on her Hanse 350 'Les Girls 2' - both with 23 points. Running third is DSC's Ken Conyard on his Beneteau 345 'Atara' (25), while BSC's Tommy Richardson's UFO34 'Amon Re' (29) will be looking for a good final race performance to remain a chance of a podium and may even take he series win after calculating the scores after 1 drop.

Offset times for the final race can be found here.

In the BSC's Dinghy Division Nick Evtouchenko's Taser 'Manly Ferry' leads with 19 points ahead of Poppy Moore's Laser Radial 'Taz' (22) in second place. Dinghy Captain David Hodgson on his Laser 'Connie' (25) is in third place. None of those on top of the series pointscore can afford to relax in the final race! Almost the entire division is capable of a podium finish after calculating the scores after applying 1 drop. Watch this space!

The post race prize-giving will be held at the Balmain Sailing Club with the usual sausage sizzle.

Come back and celebrate the end of a great Summer of Sailing.

Looking forward the annual Four Islands Race (Dinghies) and the down harbour – Three Islands Race for Yachts will be on Sunday the 13th of April. A fortnight later on Sunday the 27th of April is the annual 'Three Bridges Race (Dinghies and Yachts). One week later on Sunday the 4th of May is the Annual Sprint Championship (Yachts and Dinghies).

The 2014 WEST HARBOUR WINTER SERIES, hosted by the victors in 2013, Drummoyne Sailing Club will start with Race 1 on Sunday the 18th of May and will run for 7 races – fortnightly until the 10th of August.

David Stenhouse - Race Manager

Proud Sponsors of the Balmain Sailing Club