A dense spring fog cast a gloomy scene over Moreton Bay but it will be replaced with a building sea breeze when the high standard fleet line up for the important Australian Multihull class races over the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron courses today.
The promise to race in a stronger wind system will be welcomed by the 25 crews representing South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland after they fought to protect their tactical reputations in an unpredictable and shifty four knot breeze yesterday.
Specialist skipper George Owen and crew revelled in the challenge to claim a runaway line honours win with the super fast Victorian catamaran APC Mad Max while the consistent Keith Glover skippered trimaran Trilogy claimed an important lead in the championship with a convincing corrected handicap win.
These were the expected results from a day which most crews would claim to forget when they were left on the disadvantaged side of the unpredictable wind which regularly changed direction and rarely gusted above 4 knots.
The unstable nature of the breeze was really a lottery some crews got lucky while others placed their championship prospects in damage control when their tactical options ‘crashed’ with a series of wrong choices.
“It was easy to go the wrong way in search of more wind pressure, thankfully our errors were minimal”. Said Trilogy skipper Keith Glover.
Trilogy remains as the one to chase in the tactical battle for the Division 1 championship points while the George Owen skippered APC Mad Max is favoured to win the line honours in the two windward leeward races today.
Interest will also focus on the tactical struggle for the Division 2 championship lead between Victorian Shaun Fishley in Frassid and Queenslander Peter Hackett’s Intrigued who featured in a close match race for the important points in race 1 yesterday.
Local Moreton Bay skipper Phil Day who steered his Brisbane to Gladstone race champion Rhythmic to a comfortable win in the Classic division yesterday remains as a strong favourite to master the challenges from the Glen Stewart skippered Cliffhanger and the George Bulka helmed Skedaddle when the sails are tensioned for the short windward leeward races later today.
Further information is available from Mike Hodges 041188 8850 or Ian Grant 0427 592 664.