On Sunday February 20, 48 boats sailed sedately over the start lines at Flinders, Merricks, Somers and Westernport Yacht Clubs to kick off the 2022 Yachting Western Port Montalto Marathon.
The course was extended from the one sailed in the inaugural event in 2021, with the course now 40% longer (18 nautical miles measuing directly between marks) to take in a rounding at Somers and also taking the fleet further inshore at Flinders.
Within 45 minutes the wind strength had increasd from 7 knots to 15 and then up and gusting over 20 in parts of the course. This tested crews and boats and saw 16 retirements.
The good news is that everyone got home safely, even if a bit battered and bruised and (in the case of a couple of boats) a bit broken. Congratulations to those who filled the placings as follows:
Club Results
1st - Westernport YC
2nd - Somers YC
3rd - Flinders YC
Full Marathon - OTB Catamaran Division
1st - Taipan 4.9 Cat - Shark Bait - Shaun Freeman - South Gippsland YC
2nd - Taipan 4.9 Cat - Zoom Zoom - Stephen Owens - Westernport YC
3rd - Taipan 4.9 Sloop - TNT - Ant Richards / Tilly Richards - Westernport YC
Full Marathon - OTB Monohull Division
1st - Contender - Now or Never - Michael Vandenberg - Somers YC
2nd - Contender - Dio Spacca Piatti - SImon Spalding - Westernport YC
3rd - Impulse - Just One More - Colin Franke - Westernport YC
Full Marathon - Keel Boat / TY Division
1st - Sigma 292 - Flying Cloud - Mike Morgan / Steven Kroker / Peter Huntsman - Flinders YC
2nd - RL24 Swing Keel - Spiral Navigator - Gretta Hill / Wayne Hill / Mark Dewhurst - Loch Sport Boat Club
3rd - J70 - Soixante Dix - Andrew Kings / Bob McDonald / Julian Barlow - Flinders YC
Half Marathon - Combined
1st - Tasar - Ultraviolet - Amanda Nutting / Steve Clifford - Somers YC
2nd - Tasar - Quick Stick - Daniel McCutcheon / Claire Gustavsson - Somers YC
3rd - Pacer (without Spinnaker) - Dao - Gabrielle Simcox / Grace Curran - Westernport YC
Female Skipper
1st - HTasar - Ultraviolet - Amanda Nutting / Steve Clifford - Somers YC
2nd - Hobie 16 - Hers - Emma Morris / Jemima Wilson - Somers YC
3rd - Pacer (without Spinnaker) - Dao - Gabrielle Simcox / Grace Curran - Westernport YC
Junior Skipper
1st - Pacer (without Spinnaker) - Dao - Gabrielle Simcox / Grace Curran - Westernport YC
2nd - Pacer (without Spinnaker) - FYC 3 - Lilly Fogarty / Mischa Englisch - Flinders YC
3rd - Sholto Consulting - Owyn Simcox / Xavier Curran - Westernport YC
Disclaimer: in the tricky conditions there is still a little uncertainty, even amongst competitors themselves, as to whether all marks were rounded correctly. Other than obvious transgressions, the race committee is generally taking the golfers approach of declaring your own penalty. If you appear on the result sheet but feel you didn't complete the course as per the spirit of the instructions, please contact the race committee so we can adjust the results accordingly. The main thing is that you had fun!
