Fremantle Saililng Club

A glorious late autumn day with steady sunshine greeted the fleet for the Inaugural Fremantle Stone Autumn Invitational Regatta, raced in the waters just off Fremantle Sailing Club on 30 and 31 May 2009. The regatta was devised to encourage close quarters, intense racing between matched boats and was highly enjoyed by all competitors. Fremantle Stone generously sponsored the event, enabling the committee to award prizes to winners: a fairly rare event in offshore racing in WA!

The Next Factor, Sue Sea, Charlotte, Optimus Prime, Southern Star, The Long Boat, Jaffa and Knee Deep were invited and competed. Optimus Prime made a great effort to appear for the regatta, having only just gone into the water a few hours before the start. Rumours ran that her comparatively poor performance in the Iberia race was due to her folding propeller being blocked open by barnacles – this had obviously been fixed by the time of the regatta.

The first race started at 10:35am in a steady 14 knots of north easterly breeze. Three laps of the windward-leeward course were undertaken, with early dominance by Optimus Prime indicating an ominous return to form for this Marten 49.

 
^{Photo: Concentration aboard ‘Optimus Prime’ as the spinnaker goes up.     Image courtesy of Bernie Kaaks}

Optimus Prime and Charlotte battled for the Marten 49 honours. Sue Sea, the other Marten 49, appeared an unknown quantity, with a collision almost occuring between her and Southern Star at the first rounding of the top mark, with estimates of their proximity running at about 20cm.

The second race saw a shortened course, with only two laps due to the decreasing wind. Knee Deep redeemed herself here, taking line honours.

The third race saw even lighter winds, with boats lucky to get 7 or 8 knots. Competitors watching for a rare faux pas by ‘The Next Factor’ were intrigued to see her appearing to pick up the pin end of the start line with her keel during pre-start manoeuvres, but they claim it was an honest mistake rather than a disagreement with the start line, and the mark was replaced in good time.

 
^{Photo: Sue Sea.     Image courtesy of Bernie Kaaks}

Light but steady winds graced Sunday’s racing. Southern Star made an improved effort but Knee Deep unfortunately picked up the top mark during her rounding and suffered accordingly.

Regatta Results:

Regatta IRC

Regatta YAH