On the March long weekend the 2017 Victorian A Class State titles were run at Balnarring and were a lot of fun and were very successful regatta.

20 A Class cats came to WYC to work out who was king of the heap. 6 of these were NSW and 1 from SA. Quite a few sailors had arrived by Friday Afternoon and had rigged there boats on the Bryan Hill lawn, and joined the regular Friday night Social crew for a drink at the bar. On Friday Evening PRO Mark Graham conducted a briefing for Boat Crews, which was very informative and all crews knew where to be and what to do.

Light Breezes on Saturday saw the first race start at about 3.00PM. 2 heats sailed in a breeze that got up to 10 knots. Dinner in the Club house was Burgers, Steaks and Salads and the odd Corona, this was well attended by Sailors, support boat crews and members in general. It was good too see WYC legend Glenn Douglas on the water and competing.

On Sunday the with just enough Breeze the 3^rd heat was started at around 12.00Pm  after that race the fleet was sent to shore, for lunch and to wait for more wind. The 4^th 5^th and 6^th heats were run in a breeze that started at 5 knots and built to 12 > 15knots. By the end of racing on Sunday the battle for 1^st place in the open class was tied between Steve Brayshaw and Dave Brewer. That night a simple but delicious Chicken and Chips dinner was put on for all in the club house, and went down a treat.

With 2 boats on equal scores, it was imperative that a race be run on Monday, but once again the lack of wind saw ever one hurrying up to wait, the race start was initially postponed from 11.00am to 1.00Pm but a race wasn’t started until arond 1.30PM, and was run in around 12knots from the SW. Unfortunately whilst is a strong position, Steve Brayshaw hit a clump of weed, damaging his foiling rudder and putting him out of the race.

At The Presentation A  Class President and Merricks stalwart Ian Jonhson  (Storm) presented the various classes, Open class (foiling) Vintage (non foiling) Masters (old) Grand Masters (really Old) etc. Dave Brewer took out the prized Open Class trophy, and thanked WYC for great regatta and for being such a friendly club. Storm thanked PRO Mark Graham for a well Run regatta on the water, he then thanked and all of the WYC volunteers for there efforts and there hospitality, and made the observation, that there more volunteers than sailors. He gave special thanks to Jenny Jones and the catering crew for meeting there needs and exceeding there expectations. 

To put an a successful Regatta takes a lot of energy and time from a lot of people.

I would like to thank the following for their efforts;

• Mark Graham from Somers Yacht Club who was more than happy to take on the role of Principal Race Officer, and  for did a very professional job. 
• Michael Kopp and Ian Johnson from the A Class association for offering the regatta to WYC and for there support, guidance.
• Terry De Vries for the use of his boat as as the start / committee boat.
• On Water Crews: Lynn Dugay, Graham Henderson, Bruce Douglas, Mark Schapper, Martin Corcoran, Will Palmer, Tony Bayley, Andrew Stevens, Russell Duckworth, Nic Jurovic, Willem Dugay, Marg Douglas, Wendy Franke, Frank Jurovic, Bryan Hill
• On Shore Crew Race Box: Ron Bange, Glenda Bayley, Russell Jones
• The Catering and Hospitality Crew: Adrienne DuGay (also a big help in the Race Box, when Ron was called away), John & Carmel Weaver
• Masayo, Pam Hills, Jan Schapper, Loi Burston, Karen Smith, Jacqui Jurovic, Jill & Adrian ( Adrian did a LOT of washing up !) 
• And Especially Jenny Jones who put together great menus, did the shopping and coordinated an awesome crew.

The “feedback” was very good - forget the lack of wind!  Everyone that I spoke to, had enjoyed the regatta  & went home happy. Good job WYC!