Many visitors to Port Macquarie who sing the praises of the light and gentle breezes and the safe, accessible beaches would have found only wind whipped sand and beaches closed due to the heavy seas on Saturday when PMYC ran the first day of it’s Invitational race weekend to Laurieton and return.

In those conditions four yachts only contested the weekend’s events. Northshore 38 Solar Coaster skippered by Stuart Watson used the weekend as a training run for its skipper who has entered this years Sydney Hobart two handed division on a sister Northshore 38. The fleet was rounded out with Cool Change, Mimosa and Third Man.

With a weekend in two parts, yachts faced a range of conditions over the two days, with consistently building 15 – 20 knot southerly winds and 4 metre seas on Saturday, while Sunday saw northerlies from 15 - 17 knots decreasing to around 10 - 12, and seas decreasing from about 1.5 metres to a metre or so over the race.

After crossing a marginal Port Macquarie bar, the run south saw one yacht, Solar Coaster proceed one up, after crew misunderstood the sailing instructions and failed to turn up, while a second, Mimosa, sailed most of the race solo, after it’s crew succumbed to seasickness. It was a particularly courageous performance by Mimosa’s skipper, who both had to manage disabled crew, and sail a yacht not set up for short handed sailing.

The conditions required a long tack out to sea with Cool Change tacking first, Mimosa next and Third Man taking the widest option. It was Mimosa that chose best, enabling a beam reach all the way to the finish line hitting 7+ knots on in tack, to be second across the finish and taking handicap honours on the day. Solar Coaster took second and Cool Change third.After a meal overnight at the Laurieton Services Club the fleet headed home the following day in much kinder conditions. Solar Coaster took the lead soon after the start and was not headed on the run home, and recorded a clear line honours win. With the wind dropping some of the heavier yachts struggled to match their previous day’s times. Cool Change was second over the line Third Man next, and Mimosa being most impacted by the lack of wind followed Third Man.

The result of the return Marine Rescue Ocean Classic Trophy race saw Solar Coaster take first, Third Man in second place and Cool Change third. The two days represented most of the sailing conditions that might be expected over a Sydney to Hobart and were considered an excellent training run for that event. 

The incidental awards for the weekend saw the Tea Clipper award, (fastest overall time), awarded to Solar Coaster, the Navigator award (most accurate finishing time) go to Cool Change, while Mimosa picked up both the Old Salt award (longest journey time) and the Sandbagging award (greatest time differential).

Just after the start Mimosa keeps Cool Change behind

The fleet returning home:

Cool Change

Mimosa and Third Man

Solar Coaster