A good breeze would have been enjoyed
At Newcastle it was a good 18 knots gusting to 22 knots from the North West for the start. With such good breeze there would have been no need for a delay and the direction favoured a quick exit from the harbour. There would have been a short tight leg to the shoreward mark that gets the fleet away from the harbour entrance and from then it would have been a great beam reach up to Port Stephens. The winds freshened in the aftenoon with gusts over 25 knots so it would have been an exciting trip until the breeze faded later. I presume the finish would have been outside the heads as the otherwise it would have been a beat into the bay into fading winds.
There would have been tall stories in the bar until the shuttle bus departed for Newcastle while the crews settled in for the Sail Port Stephens week.
Alas this is all imaginary but let’s keep going for week.
Given the current forecast the first three day series should have been sailed in good winds with the Wednesday race 20 knots from the North.
Crews would have appreiated the lay day on Thursday wth rain and 30 knots in the offing. While Friday and Saturday are forecast to be fine the winds will be hovering around the 25 knot mark keeping the fleet inshore.
Unfortunately the balmy 28 degrees of today’s Nor Wester will give away to 19 degrees with a substantial chill factor. All the foul weather gear would be needed to stay warm for the duration.
Later in the week we will see how the forecast rolls out but for now today’s dash to Port Stephens is one good race that was a victim to the virus.
A problematic forecast for the second half of the series that had to be cancelled due to the virus