First Pennant Race for 2016
Jan Ibs von Seht
The first Pennant race for the calendar year was held on Sunday in ideal sailing conditions, despite a recent significant drop in water level, which prevented the launching of the larger trailable boats. (The lake is at only 60% of capacity, some 20% below last year’s level, so it is to be hoped that the authorities will provide a top-up before the season ends.) Although the breeze changed direction quite frequently, wind speed was steady and strong enough to produce some good fast planing on the reaching legs.
After a fairly even upwind start, Ballarat based member Mal McPherson managed to find good lifts up the centre of the course and established a narrow lead over Jan Ibs von Seht (pictured above). The pair handled the conditions well in their identical Impulses to put an almost unassailable gap of half a leg on the other nine boats by half race distance.
The procession continued until the downwind finishing leg, when Ibs von Seht snatched the lead from McPherson to cross the line just 10 seconds ahead in a time of 45 minutes. George Grellet, Andrew Pearce and Johnno Knight enjoyed a close contest throughout for the minor placings, with Pearce prevailing to finish third ahead of Knight and Grellet. The top four placings remained unchanged when handicaps were applied.
A second race was held following the Pennant event, and Ibs von Seht proved his earlier result to be no fluke by again claiming the win, this time in another tight finish ahead of Pearce and McPherson. The Moyston sailor has been fine-tuning his rig this season, particularly concentrating on mast rake adjustment, which appears to be paying dividends.
In other club news, three members travelled to Warrnambool the previous weekend for the latest regional regatta, where Mark Knights fared exceptionally well to win the monohull class with four wins from five races. He generously attributed part of his success to some good sailing tips from Johnno Knight, who unfortunately failed to benefit from his own advice, finishing further down the order. Tony Hillier also put in a good performance at the regatta.
A crew of five Stawell sailors ventured to Lake Purrumbete with the sportsboat ‘Major Tom’ in late January to compete in two races with the Colac and Derrinallum clubs. Under the capable helmsmanship of George Grellet they were unlucky to narrowly miss victory in race 1 due to a navigational malfunction, but bounced back to win the second race convincingly once they found their way around the lake.
After a fairly even upwind start, Ballarat based member Mal McPherson managed to find good lifts up the centre of the course and established a narrow lead over Jan Ibs von Seht (pictured above). The pair handled the conditions well in their identical Impulses to put an almost unassailable gap of half a leg on the other nine boats by half race distance.
The procession continued until the downwind finishing leg, when Ibs von Seht snatched the lead from McPherson to cross the line just 10 seconds ahead in a time of 45 minutes. George Grellet, Andrew Pearce and Johnno Knight enjoyed a close contest throughout for the minor placings, with Pearce prevailing to finish third ahead of Knight and Grellet. The top four placings remained unchanged when handicaps were applied.
A second race was held following the Pennant event, and Ibs von Seht proved his earlier result to be no fluke by again claiming the win, this time in another tight finish ahead of Pearce and McPherson. The Moyston sailor has been fine-tuning his rig this season, particularly concentrating on mast rake adjustment, which appears to be paying dividends.
In other club news, three members travelled to Warrnambool the previous weekend for the latest regional regatta, where Mark Knights fared exceptionally well to win the monohull class with four wins from five races. He generously attributed part of his success to some good sailing tips from Johnno Knight, who unfortunately failed to benefit from his own advice, finishing further down the order. Tony Hillier also put in a good performance at the regatta.
A crew of five Stawell sailors ventured to Lake Purrumbete with the sportsboat ‘Major Tom’ in late January to compete in two races with the Colac and Derrinallum clubs. Under the capable helmsmanship of George Grellet they were unlucky to narrowly miss victory in race 1 due to a navigational malfunction, but bounced back to win the second race convincingly once they found their way around the lake.