He’s some cool dude, and is like “the little engine that could”. Seldom praised, but an integral part of the glue that holds the yacht club together, club handicapper Ken McDonald took the spotlight after the first leg of last weekend’s Port Macquarie Yacht Club’s Charles Nichol trophy event, which was run in the pursuit format.

Pursuit format racing requires consideration of individual yachts performance in likely weather patterns over the race course, and handicapping by setting a staggered start to achieve what effectively becomes a first to cross the finish determination of the race result.

Consequently, on day one, racing from Port Macquarie south to Laurieton, in the shadows of the line as crews strove to get the last nth of a knot out of their yachts and the tension on board the individual yachts was palpable, one can only imagine the handicapper’s immense satisfaction when he saw yachts approaching the finish with ever diminishing gaps between boats, then crossing the finish, line astern with only boat lengths between the individual yachts. Desired result achieved!

At the conclusion of day one racing, crews remained in Laurieton overnight enjoying the hospitality of the Laurieton United Services Club, where bonhomie reigned and discussion was about the closeness of yachts at the finish.

Next day, while the Laurieton leg of the weekend was run in “golden zone” breezes, the return leg saw the forecast winds of 15 – 25 knots exceeded by an average of about 5 knots, with the race starting in an 18 – 20 knot northerly that built to around 30 knots.

There were a few sail changes once the yachts left the shelter of Laurieton, with all yachts starting the race well reefed down. In a hectic start it appeared Third Man, Solar Coaster and Razzamatazz 2 did best, with the latter two making the decision to head out to sea, while Third Man, initially chose to remain inshore.

Enticer, sailing with only two on board chose the inshore course, requiring multiple tacks, a massive effort on a running backstays yacht, initially took and held the on water lead. However the multiple tacks soon took their toll and in worsening  conditions Kookaburra 2 was able to claim, and hold onto the lead, eventually finishing 7 minutes in advance of Enticer.

While the previous day’s sailing saw most of the fleet finishing within a five minute window, yachts straggled across the finish line with the next yacht to finish, Razzamatazz 2, finishing a little over an hour adrift of Enticer, while the last finisher, Third Man finished almost an hour and a half behind the first two finishers. Cool Change being short crewed, showed prudence and elected to motor home recording a DNF. 

With conditions creating a lively bar, some skippers reported receiving one final reminder of who’s really in charge while at sea, with double digit speeds recorded while surfing across the Port Macquarie bar before finding safe haven between the break walls.

With the two legs of an eventful “Charlie”, being sailed in contrasting conditions, previous winner, Kookaburra 2 took the victory over Third Man, with Enticer taking third. Special mention of course also goes to the PMYC handicapper for enabling a memorable day 1 finish.