The Port Macquarie Yacht Club were also running a series of races on the same section of the river, which was both awe inspiring and a little intimidating for our newer members, and somewhat tricky for the yachts threading their way through all the small boats.

The southerly breeze was quite good, but somewhat gusty and shifty at times, making the crowded river even trickier, however, the mostly sunny skies and clear water as the top of the tide started to run out made it most enjoyable.

The catamaran division was won easily on yardstick by Frank O’Rourke on Dino, as usual.

After a race-long battle, second place went to Tony Kuhn on Stella, 20 seconds ahead of Jack Corthals on Harpic.

Further back were Rob Barwick on Drift and Dave Winter on Spica.

Harpic took the handicap win ahead of Stella, followed by Dino, 10 seconds ahead of Drift, then Spica.

In the monohull fleet, Rohan & Charley Nosworthy, fresh back from winning the Heron national titles, borrowed a NS14 Cat in the hat and sailed with us to practice for next weekend’s Booti Cup.

They then blitzed the field on yardstick to be almost 20 minutes ahead of Terry Howard in Ratz.

Then followed Geoff Williams in Ocean Dreaming, Tony Walker in Deep Purple, Stuart Symons and James Zuirblis in Big Bang, Elsa Gandy and Caitlyn Hicks in Sailfish, Jane Cooper and Sharon Carney in Jupiter, Simon Gandy and Andrew Hurrell in Britannia.

The Nosworthy Father and Son also won on handicap, ahead of Sailfish, Ocean Dreaming, Jupiter, Deep Purple, Ratz, Big Bang, and Britannia. Cameron Marshall took his new (to him) X3 for a half lap shakedown but didn’t complete the course.

Next weekend is the Booti Cup regatta at Wallis Lake at Forster over both days, where Port Macquarie will be defending the Booti Cup.

There will be a social sail at Port Macquarie for those not going to Forster, but the next point score race in Port Macquarie is on the following weekend (18th) and will be a double header, with race 5 of the summer series at 11am, a BBQ lunch, and the 5th Club Championship at 2pm.

Ron Apps is rostered on duty.