Possibly one of the reasons why posts have been a bit scarce recently is that we have not really enjoyed the GFS Twilight Summer Season as much as we do other sailing, there may be a few reasons for this but include our (possibly influenced by my) dislike of the handicap starts and G-whizz herself never really performed to her best, with the exception of the last race. Her performance was affected by a number by:
Her hull was rarely as clean as it could have been, a situation that took a while to address but rectified for the last race and hopefully future races.
My sail selection would have benefited from more thought.
Missing our start time, sometimes by may minutes in an attempt keep out of the melee caused by the handicap stars. (Read the previous post “Summer Series an experiment” which probably explains my state of mind – hence the results).

There was some very pleasant evenings on the water and some good racing, the sunsets weer often spectacular, I believe caused by the smoke in the air from the bush fires that seemed to want to continue burning, that smoke at times reduced visibility on some evenings. There was little complaining about the smoke, it reminded all of us about the horrific conditions some people were being subjected to.

The Twilight race that falls closest to Australia day forms part of the “Australia Day Regatta” this regatta consists of organised racing on the weekend closest to Australia day plus events conducted at most of the Harbour based sailing and Yacht clubs, it is recognised as the oldest continually run regatta, first sailed in 1837. Having won this event in two of the last three years we approached it with a positive attitude, had the Hull cleaned, selected the correct sails and race in wind conditions that were right on G-whizz’s sweet spot. Needless to say the handicap we were given that reflected our previous poor performances was a major contributor to our first place and a third Australia day Medallion in four years.

Congratulations to the boats that sailed well throughout the Summer Series, Especially Chris Stannard and “Words Apart” and Patrick Houlihan on “Saoirse”. Some photos follow: