A fleet consisting of a Hobie Tiger, a Viper, a Taipan, 2 Hobie 18s and 2 Hobie 16s set off from Cowes at 11am on January 2nd in 15-20 knots WSW winds to see who could circumnavigate French Island the quickest. The race officer set a port course meaning boats were to round in an anti-clockwise direction. Steve and Andrew decided a swim would be a good way to get them focussed and capsized within minutes of the start. Adam and David got a great start but the Hobie Tiger with it's spinnaker started to clear out from the fleet. Half an hour in and the Tiger suffered a broken halyard and had to capsize to make repairs. While they managed to make good the damage and get going again before the fleet caught them, this ended up to be a crucial delay. The Viper then capsized and snapped the boom making them the first withdrawal. By this stage Steve and Andrew in the Hobie 18 had caught up to Adam and David with the Taipan in between them and the Tiger out front.
As is becoming customary, once Steve passed Adam in the race the gods frowned on him and he managed to hit ground and crack a rudder case - forcing him to continue the race with one rudder. Adam and David flew across the top of the island tight hauled and managed to reel in the Taipan.
In the run home, the Tiger crossed the line first and Adam and David won the duel with the Taipan down west arm to cross second in 4 hours and 19 minutes. Steve and Andrew limped home in 4th place in just under 5 hours. On corrected time, Adam and David took the title back to Balnarring shading the Tiger but just under 3 minutes.
A special thanks also to Frank Jurovic and Byron Ko who shepherded the fleet around in Tulum Rescue and made sure the WYC boats negotiated middle bank without incident.
All in all a gruelling race but a very rewarding experience and we look forward to more boats from WYC competing next year to ensure we defend the title!
Last Modified on 10/01/2014 18:10