Melbourne Winter Series (MWS)
The power and the majesty.
Yes it certainly is a mighty sport that we are involved in - so this a personal note of thanks to all the owners and officials that make it all possible for us to go out and laugh, sing and yes, sometimes cry. These images, courtesy of and © to Steb Fisher, are from Races Three and Four of the 2009 MWS held on Sunday August 2. Not sure what you'll get on the 16th, but good luck and enjoy!
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Division 1 Start Line - a few trying to de-power and run down the line and then there's the likes of 'Goldfinger' at the back, fully powered up and barreling into the line - I can hear the bugels now!
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'The Secretary' and 'Kingurra's Bowmen, left and right respectively, earned their pay on the day.
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| 'Dream' have a slab in already and the fence is still going into the drink. | Roger and Michelle Wale's 'Pretty Woman' smashing in towards the top mark. |
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| 'Soiree Bleu' the Archambault 40 ensuring all is in order before going for the kite. Good move in that breeze. | The new 'Veloce' two-sail reaching, possibly in Race 4. She is getting faster and faster, so it will be good to see how it all stacks up at the end of the MWS. |
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I entitled this image of Audi Centre Melbourne as "Big Bag... Bit on!" - Enough said, except to add a Foxy-esque "Yahoo Baby!"
Since her latest mods, Audi Centre Melbourne is off and running, literally, as this is where she has her greatest advantage. It certainly is helping, as this purpose built IRC Racer is now all over the IRC and AMS scoreboard.
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Alan tells me that Cougar II's computer recorded 32.4 knots of breeze at one stage. They were late (but not too late) for the second start, as he top batten adjuster bracket exploded and popped the batten out in the first race. They sent a crewman (no doubt the lucky bowman) up the mast to pull it clear so they could drop the main and finish the race under headsail alone. They returned to SYC to drill and fit some bolts through the sail and batten, then sailed back to the start of Race 4. They won on IRC despite these issues - well done. For their efforts they got to enjoy a maximum of 23 knots downhill, so I am sure that made all the pain and stress go away... |
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This sequence shows 'Goldfinger' leading 'Calm' and then 'XLR8' around the top mark. 'Calm' gets their super huge Audi Centre Brighton bag up, goes hot and starts to gain on her older IMS colleague. These shots were taken by Scott Nunn from RBYC. Many thanks for the use of them, Scott... and stay tuned for more of the images he took. |
By John Curnow
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