Races 4 and 5 of the Hastings Yacht Club winter series have been well supported by the local Multihull fraternity. Race 4 started with a record 8 Tri's on the start line which bodes well for the future and speaks volumes for the support our division gets from HYC. At the front we had the glory boys on Quickskips and Redshift. In the middle Chilli, Frassld, Daylight Robbery and Mustang Sally, and bringing up the rear Shuttle and With teeth....so we all had someone to play with... Conditions were good with the wind slowly increasing to 20 knots as the race wore on. Sadly, Redshifts rudder failed for the umteenth time leaving Tim on Skips with just himself to play with. The course was a repeating Triangle in the main channel. The tide was ebbing strongly and with 27 mono's also racing on the same course, if you didnt judge it correctly the B35 top mark was challenging. In the end, Skips pipped Mustang Sally by 30 seconds on corrected time and Shuttle beat With Teeth for 3rd by 10 seconds.
Race 5 had 6 Tri's at the start with a forecast 25 knots. The Race Committee sent the fleet to Joes Island and back. Everyone had a single reef in at the start which proved to be a prudent decision as the beat back from Joes Island saw the wind getting towards 30 knots. George had fixed his Rudder and got off to a flying start in Redshift on the 1st leg which was a beat to B35. Al on Mustang Sally, complete with his all girl crew of 4, (how does he do it?) screamed after George using his screacher to good effect. Once past crawfish rock all the spinnakers were hoisted... well almost all as Quickskips seemed to be struggling with theirs and gave up after a while..I believe they had equipment failure.... The race back after the rounding was fun when the rain storm came through, but winds dropped a bit towards the end. The final result was a well deserved win for Redshift followed by Mustang Sally, Frassld, Daylight Robbery and Shuttle, all within 2 minutes of each other. Slowskips got the wooden spoon for a change..no doubt the crew will be flogged..
