Moreton Bay’s Wildlife on Show for the 18s

Light to moderate NE winds 8-13 knots welcomed the three 18s for a warm but enjoyable day on Moreton Bay – Boat Mate, Bulimba Fire Truck and Red Claw Wines Qld. Unfortunately Queenslander never made it out of the rigging park due to the lack of one crew member while Asko Appliances Qld and Queensland never showed due to other commitments.

Talk around the 18s rigging park has got Pure Blonde heading north from Sydney to join our fleet. We should have 7-8 boats racing next season. The club needs more sailors and are always keen on welcoming new members and sponsors.­

We had a few close encounters with the marine life out there today. A large turtle surfaced just metres from our position on the end of the wings while we were going downwind under kite and then again upwind. Were the turtles chasing the Red Claw Crustation on the Bow?

The next time round again on the downwind leg we crossed a rather massive prawn who became quiet aggressive after jumping from the bay onto our deck. Luckily for us we were all out on the wings on trap laughing at this big crazy prawn. The discussion was who was going to go in and secure it. For a happy ending the prawn got away after sensing my thoughts for my wife’s curried prawns.

Anyhow all boats started together. With a clear start, the Boatmate team came out of the blocks trucking to tack off to the right, Red Claw went left and the fire truck up the middle.

The marks were hard to see allowing Red Claw to sneak thru to lead at the 1^st mark. We slowly opened up the gap from 2^nd and 3^rd, who were having a close battle.

At the bottom mark we through in a gybe then crunch, ggggrrrrcrunch. Whoops! With sails eased, we sailed off the shallow, hidden reef after hitting bottom. This cost us some time as Boatmate drew closer. We had a wrist mounted GPS attached to Nathan, our sheethand, who aggressively pushed the boat harder and harder to increase our speed which worked well, end results below.

1^st -Red Claw Wines Qld
2^nd -Boat mate
3^rd- Bulimba Fire truck

Written by Adam Young