Metre Yacht Rally at Sydney Amateur Sailing Club
by Sydney Amateur Sailing Club 9 Feb 2021 21:16 UTC
7 February 2021
Bill Gale suggested to me some 12 months ago - sorry told me some 12 months ago - to organise a Metre and Metre-type Regatta. With the support of Alice, our Club Captain, Catherine in the Racing office, plus the generous offers of Charles Maclurcan and John Jeremy to be starters, we were able to get this happening.
At close of entries, we had 17 yachts, 15 of whom faced the starter at 1200 hours.
There was a wide variety of yachts - a 75 square metre, two 8 metres, three 6 metres, two 30 square metres, two Cole 40s, a Borresen BB10 plus a couple of one-off metre designs. Yachts ranging in age from 1893 to early 21st century. Mostly wood with a couple of fibreglass yachts.
Sunday saw a light southerly of about 10 knots with a few higher gusts, as well as a few holes - welcome to Sydney Harbour.
From the start in Athol Bay the first mark was N3 - a ship's buoy, with a tinny anchored a very short distance away, fishing. They decided to present each yacht sailing past with a special gift - some yachts got prawns, some pilchards - Josephine's fish present was some 5 inches long. All yachts also received a resounding yelled welcome of abuse.
Anyway, up front Fidelis, Scarlett O'Hara and Defiance were showing the way, followed by Juana. The two Cole 40s Theme and Tanami were having a great tussle. Of the 6 metres Maybe XI was leading Sjo Ro and Venger.
As the fleet rounded Obelisk, we passed a fleet of MC38s. Quite the contrast!
On to the finish, and Fidelis was first across the line, followed by Scarlett O'Hara 17 seconds later, with Defiance less than a minute behind in third.
Theme beat Tanami by less than a minute to win the Cole 40 battle and Florin beat Tom Thumb II across the line by 3 seconds to win the Dragon battle. Maybe XI led the way in the 6 metres.
On handicap, Scarlett O'Hara won from Juana and Defiance. Your humble scribe was not as successful with Josephine, but we had a great day. Full results are on the SASC website.
After the race a number of yachts rafted up at SASC. I am always delighted by how impressed first-time visitors to our club are. Thanks to our Commodore Sean Kelly for running the bar.
Thank you to all owners, skippers and crew for making this day a success. I hope this to be the first of an annual series.
If there are any other metre boat owners who are interested in competing in future events, please email the club: .
Find the full results here.