By Ian Grant.
There are no hidden secrets in the form shown by the John Galloway skippered Queensland Marine Services as the crew have continued to dominate the major results in Whitsunday Sailing Club Twilight racing on Pioneer Bay.
John Galloway again proved the depth of his tactical experience to select the right options when he steered Queensland Marine Services to a 1 minute 28 second win over arch rival Roger Down in True Love while Jeff Brown’s 007 filled third another 52 seconds of the pace.
All three crews welcomed the opportunity to test their light wind sailing skill as they continue with the preparations to improve their boat speed in the local fleet racing to be on the pace to contest the 2011 Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week in August.
The Queensland Marine Services crew have shown they are the boat to beat by regularly finishing in the top three in recent races with their latest light wind win clearly showing they have the boat speed to outpace their .812 handicap rating in all wind strengths.
Their latest result achieved in an 8knot breeze which hardly had the velocity to ruffle the surface of Pioneer Bay confirmed the confidence of the Queensland Marine Services crew to be the masters.
However while skipper John Galloway is conservatively happy with the present form he continues to treat every race with the necessary respect.
His long term tactical skill has been a feature behind Queensland Marine Services results but he understands there is no time to rest on their laurels as the competition to win the Twilight point score series enters the important winter series this month.
Meanwhile Queensland Marine Services remains as the Gun Boat dominating the corrected handicap results while the faster and higher handicapped Questionable Logic (Terry Archer) the Charles Wallis owned Reignition and the Damien Suckling skippered Another Fiasco continue with their match racing to decide the overall line honours champion.
Questionable Logic has continued to set the pace winning six of the past seven line honours however both crews on Reignition and Another Fiasco are progressively narrowing the gap.
Only 9 seconds separated Questionable Logic and Reignition in the 19th race of the series which has forced Terry Archer’s Questionable Logic crew to focus their tactical attention on applying a safer wind shadow on their rival or slip from controlling the honour of winning the seasons line honours title.