Perhaps the best place to take the temperature of a sporting body such as a local yacht club is at an event where annual pointscore placings are already settled, the race effectively counts for nothing, and the weather forecast is somewhat blancmange. In such case then the Port Macquarie Yacht Club would appear to be in very good shape, as a healthy fleet of seven yachts turned out to contest last Sunday’s ocean buoy event.

With light northerly winds forecast for the morning turning southerly in the afternoon, with a 09:30 start time the Officer Of the Day set a course to match the conditions. The lack of breeze forced a postponement, and when the breeze finally arrived after about 30 minutes it was the afternoon’s forecast south easterly trending southerly arriving early.

After the start was called gear problems board Kookaburra 2 caused that yacht to be disorganised with her start, which again saw Third Man with the leaders across the line. With the breeze still building four yachts arrived at the first mark in close quarters with Enticer being first to round the mark and head out to the sea mark followed by Razzamatazz 2, and Third Man, with Zig Zag suffering a problem onboard and dropping behind. Kookaburra 2 was next to arrive at the beach mark followed by ocean series winner Cool Change then Mimosa, sailing with a crew of irregulars.

With the wind picking up and topping 15 knots from the south east the beat to the sea mark saw Enticer extend the slight lead she had at the beach. Razamatazz 2 held second place, while Kookaburra 2 overtook Third Man at the mark. Zig Zag was heavily inconvenienced as she sorted out her onboard issues and was overtaken temporarily by Cool Change, which sailed a steady course.

By the time yachts had reached the sea mark for the first time, the wind had settled in at SSE and stayed that way for the remainder of the race, blowing a steady 17 – 22 knots, leaving boats that elected to remain with their original sail selection slightly overpowered, although the heavier yachts revelled in the conditions.

With the fleet spreading out, the on water order remained more or less the same, while Zig Zag began her chase of the fleet.

With division one yachts sailing a shorter course, Third Man was first across the line followed by Cool Change, then Enticer the first of the division two boats, followed by Kookaburra 2 which had trailed Razzamatazz 2 all day but just pipped her at the line, followed by Mimosa, then Zig Zag.

After handicaps were applied Third Man, after the recent works was clear winner from Razzamatazz 2, with Kookaburra 2 taking third. On a day that promised little, but ended up delivering exhilarating sailing, if there had been any doubters as to the health of PMYC, those thoughts must have been allayed by the participation rate and camaraderie shown last Sunday and throughout what has been an extremely successful 2024.