Over the Labour Day weekend, The Menace, a substitute entry for the grounded KarmaKaze, travelled to Sydney for the Sydney Harbour Regatta to sail in the Super 30s fleet, which included a subset series for the Fareast 28R National Titles. Roger Gunn, Denis Liubinas, Wes Anderson, Ian Burns and John Mather made the two 12-hour up-and-back trips, staying at the superb and hospitable facilities of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron.
Day 1 was a light-air affair, and the team scored a first place in the second race in a fleet of 14. After the opening day, the team sat in 4th place overall.
Saturday night was spent enjoying drinks as guests of the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club, who hosted the Fareast 28R crews. It was a great opportunity to meet and mix with other teams and share stories and a mutual love of sailing the Fareast 28R.
Day 2 was a wholly different affair. After finally locating our course near the Sydney Harbour Heads, the fleet was met with very strong winds, at times gusting to 30 knots. A 5th place in the first race was promising, but an OCS in the second race sank any chance of holding onto 4th place in the series, although a recovery to 8th place kept our hopes alive.
In the last race of the day, the fleet was met with the strongest winds yet. Despite pleas from the crew to their skipper aboard the Fareast 28R Aetos 3, raising their kite on the final leg proved disastrous, with a severe round-up launching four sailors overboard and leaving them behind as their boat sailed away (see photo attached).
A fourth place for us in the final race, however, was not enough, and The Menace finished 6th overall in the Super 30s and 3rd on scratch in the FE28R fleet.
The regatta, though, was a great experience and we were happy with the result against some cracking boats. Our thanks go to MHYC and the regatta organisers, who ran a very professional and well-organised event.
Results: https://app.sailsys.com.au/club/152/results/series/5370/pointscore?view=individual&handicap=5
Denis Luibinas – The Menace AUS
