Couta Boat State Titles at Geelong Wooden Boat Festival 2010

Couta Boats from Williamstown, Safety Beach, Queenscliff and Sorrento rendezvoused at Port Arlington (after a pleasant Saturday morning cruise) for a chat & catered Fish & Chips. (Thanks for organising this Carmen – it was appreciated by all). Boats were topped up with skippers and crew that arrived by road to Port Arlington.

As we all left the dock for the SSCBC run passage race into Geelong the breeze died and a postponement was issued by Peter Taylor on board the Kaurie Chief. After a short delay the breeze came in a very light shifty westerly or was that easterly...northerly? Anyway the race was started. The sky was ominous and getting blacker by the moment, thunder was heard, lightning was seen and the rain came and the wind did a couple of 360’s. No one at that stage knew of the carnage from the “Supercell” less than 50km’s to the North...a sign of things to come???

The fleet split into 2 groups, one group sailed the rhumb line to Hopeton Channel # 10 marker, and the other group chased pressure that was settling in from the south. In the end the group that sailed the rhumb line prevailed. Another feature was the Classic Yacht fleet on their passage race coming through our fleet looking very majestic. And with waterline length coming into play on a beam reach making them fast.

On arrival Royal Geelong Yacht Club officials  welcomed us and directed us to our berths, where boats where tidied up and left for some welcome beers and barbecue with fellow sailors on the terrace overlooking our and many other boats, dingys and yachts.

The Wooden Boat Festival at Geelong was well set up with displays featuring many different craft; we admired the workmanship that was evident. A fleet of wooden Heron dingys looked very regal and seaworthy and their close racing was noted the following day.

Royal Geelong took over race management for the two short races on the Sunday which where keenly fought out. The feature being a developing persistent shift in the second race that resulted in the wind dying and backing 180 degrees enabling the second half of the fleet to finish. Those that started in clear air and anticipated the shift prevailed.

The passage back for us proved not to be boring... for off Port Arlington we were caught in a thunderstorm where visibility was significantly reduced ....we checked our heading, our waterproof chart for a course to steer. We slowed...it got dark ...the rain was constant...after a while we gained a visual sighting on the West Channel northern marker altered course to 180 degrees... and proceeded down the channel until we rounded the point of Swan Island and the Queenscliff lights came into view. In another hour or so we were on our mooring... with a sense of relief and accomplishment of a testing night passage without electronic navigational aides.

Congratulations are well deserved to the winners and placegetters being:-

 

COUTA BOAT ASSOCIATION SERIES RESULTS FOR STATE TITLES 2010 (held in conjunction with the Geelong Wooden Boat Festival):

Division 1			Total	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3
C43	Lola	Raymond Bateman	9	3	3	3
C118	Sorrento	Peter Gale	13	4	1	8
C119	Scoundrel	Hayden Warszewski	13	1	6	6
C97	C97	Jeffrey Richardson	13	7	2	4
Division 2
C136	Defiance	David Cross	4	1	2	1
C3227	Drizabone	Tom Frickie	7	2	3	2
C34	Regina	Janette Ellis	8	3	1	4

 

Race 1 of the Couta Boat Association State Titles (sponsored by Yanmar Marine) 06 Mar 2010

Division 1
C119	Scoundrel	Hayden Warszewski
C178	Maud	Andrew Scorgie
C43	Lola	Raymond Bateman
Division 2
C136	Defiance	David Cross
C3227	Drizabone	Tom Frickie
C144	Fancy	Paul van Prooyen
Geelong Wooden Boat Festival centralgeelong.com.au Passage Race Trophy
C136	Defiance	David Cross

 

Race 2 of the Couta Boat Association State Titles (sponsored by Yanmar Marine) 07 Mar 2010

Division 1
C118	Sorrento	Peter Gale
C97	C97	Jeffrey Richardson
C43	Lola	Raymond Bateman
Division 2
C34	Regina	Janette Ellis
C136	Defiance	David Cross
C3227	Drizabone	Tom Frickie
Geelong Wooden Boat Festival Pier Point Cup
C34	Regina	Janette Ellis

 

Race 3 of the Couta Boat Association State Titles (sponsored by Yanmar Marine) 07 Mar 2010

Division 1
C2008	Southerly	Andrew Skinner
C14	Surprise	Nick Williams
C43	Lola	Raymond Bateman
Division 2
C136	Defiance	David Cross
C3227	Drizabone	Tom Frickie
C34	Regina	Janette Ellis
Geelong Wooden Boat Festival Longboard Wines Corio Couta Boat Cup
C2008	Southerly	Andrew Skinner

Thank you to the organisers of the Geelong Wooden Boat Festival and to Royal Geelong Yacht Club for hosting us.

Also, well done to all couta boat sailors, who made the effort to showcase our boats to another area.