Weather conditions last Saturday were more conducive to fishing than sailing.
A south-westerly breeze hardly reached five knots when five yachts from the mixed keel boats division competed in heat three of the six races of the winter series.
Wayne North, who had skippered Just Grace to its fourth win in a row, was hoping to make club history.
Brett Hawker who took second place in heat two had other ideas when he quickly had Jessie James out in the lead.
This boat was doubling the speed of the other four and seemed to be able to find any breeze anywhere on the harbour.
Hawker had opened up a huge lead and went on unchallenged.
When it looked like the breeze was beginning to drop out, it was decided to shorten the course — a drastic move omitting half of it.
Stephen Brown had Mary Maitland moving well and was engaged in a close encounter with Stephen Lee’s Flasheart, which eventually retired from the race.
Neil Worrell’s Zuri, which took third place in the previous week, tried a variety of spinnakers and was competitive throughout.
North held on to second place throughout with Just Grace but was well back from Jessie James.
Hawker claimed an easy victory and recorded fastest time in a memorable performance.
Mary Maitland was second on corrected time in a fine effort, and Just Grace was relegated to third place.
There will be no racing over the coming long weekend, and heat four will be conducted on May 6 with a 1.30pm start.
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