Gippsland Lakes Yacht Club’s Easter Regatta

The Gippsland Lakes Yacht Club’s three day Easter Regatta provided sailors a pot pourri of frustration and overheating, joy, chills and total confusion at times.  The wind was clearly having a good time giving and then taking away.

The GLYC has been holding the Easter Regatta for countless years only having had to abandon the 2020 regatta because of Covid19 lockdown.

Joining in the Easter Regatta for the first time were five Weta trimarans two of whom came from NSW.  They had their own divisional starts whereas the visiting five Magnums sailed in division 2 for their titles with the rest of the trailer sailers and keel boats.

On Saturday with hardly any hot north wind blowing, 35 boats performed their slow motion starts and headed off counter clockwise behind Raymond Island for the 30 Mile Classic race.  At times they would get a soft spinnaker up then lose it soon after.  As they headed to the compass points, the lead boat, a Viper, lost her terrific lead when she got completely stalled in a hole without a breath of wind.  

Mexican Roadworks, a Hick 7.5 sport boat sailed by Stuart Loft, took over the lead sailing with her beautiful blue spinnaker, and headed back around the island after the race was shortened at the compass points to take line honours as she crossed the finish at the yacht club.  On yardstick, Quiet Little Drink, an Elliott 5.9 sailed by GLYC Commodore Andrew Somerville won first.

Sunday brought a good wind of around 15 knots to speed the fleet of 50 boats around Raymond Island (counter clockwise again) in the ever popular Cock o’ Lake ‘Round Raymond Island race.   Though starting the race going down the straits with spinnakers flying has always made the Easter Regatta such a colourful spectacle, the club has had to reverse the order to avoid any mishap in the straits with the busy traffic of boats most who are unawares of the need to give way to sail boats or to anticipate their tacking needs.

The fleet was definitely mixed with a large number of cats,  keel boats and trailer sailers, trimarans, WASZPs, dwindling down in size to an RsFeva XI to the littlest in the fleet, a wind surfer.

Mitch Meade on Bob, an A Class Flying foiling cat, quietly tore ahead completing the entire circumnavigation in 44:50 taking line honours and winning first in yardstick.

Monday’s Lake Victoria Triangle drew 31 boats as many of the others needed to pack up and head home.  The wind was quite variable but the biggest unexpected surprise for this race was a strong current at the windward and wing marks.  At .8 knots, (the current is pretty laughable for boats accustomed to racing in the ocean), nobody could fathom why on Lake Victoria, which seldom has any appreciable current, it was  so hard to get around the marks.
There were so many bottlenecks and backward drifts among the whole fleet including many who still could not successfully round the marks the second and third times in one go.

But in this race from the get go, Fake News, a Thompson 7 sailed by Graeme Alexander, tore out in front to take and maintain the lead to the win.  Highland Ffling, a FlyingFifteen, sailed by David Parish, took 2nd place on yardstick, followed by Pete Kiely on Sixth Element, a Mosquito spin taking 3rd.

Sailors were very patient with all the Covid rules and inconveniences of  access to the club but through one door, but all were pleased to have been able to participate in this Easter Regatta without any lockdowns interfering.

Overall for the series in the Regatta, Andrew Somerville who sailed Quiet Little Drink took first on the podium, followed  by David Parish on Highland Ffling with second, and Gary Maskiell who sailed the Bees Knees, a Mosquito w spin, won third.