We had another fantastic race this year with light to moderate winds and brilliant sunshine. A large windsurfing fleet did exceptionally well. John Doolan was looking super fit finishing as the top windsurfer and special mention to a super tough Jorn Khronke finishing the course after falling in 3 times and getting becalmed off Palm Beach. Jorn did the ultra marathon including sailing to the club from up the river before the start!
It was great watching John Doolan (Gosford SC) come running across the beach to ring the bell, a proud moment for windsurfing he only had two foiling moths and a Catamaran in front. Close behind was Doug Mclean (Canbera YC). It was great to hear all the sailors come in and tell their stories. Lea Sitja (Woollahra SC) blasted out of the bay at the start. Steve Newman (Pittwater) used his local knowledge to make good gains tactically. And other guys and girls sharing the stoke, "oh I sailed high on the course"," I sailed too close to the island", etc. All the sailors came in pretty close to each other considering it was a true marathon of around 2 hours plus so it was close racing.
I wrote some more here www.windsurfingreligion.com/blog
Being a member of Gosford SC I can attest that John had been working hard prior to this race and was keen on showing the prowess of the D2. While the rest of us packed up the previous weekend John was last seen sailing back up the bay in very light conditions for a couple of hours extra practice. For my first marathon, well I finished, got caught up with a Hobie 16 off the beach was not a highlight
, after 20 mins or so it all settled down, got round the Island unscathed and then tried to figure out the shifts on the way back and to avoid the yachts on their Sunday racing.
Well done to all the windurfers, great turn out
Thanks for your kind words Justin I went swimming a few more times then three but made it around Lion Island and all the way back to Rowland Reserve. Had trouble reading the wind shifts and think I was lucky the tide came in and helping a bit. Stoked I made it.
Looks like an ideal race for the raceboards to join in.
I hope we can organise raceboards to join in with some similar races here in QLD such as the Peel Island Marathon and Southport YC Great Race. Maybe even get a raceboard series going.
