Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club will conduct the annual Rockingham Race Weekend on 28 and 29 November. Both power boats and yachts will take part in the event this year with great activities on the water and shore-side.
Twenty-seven yachts will line up near Port Beach in Fremantle on Saturday morning. The forecast is showing moderate to strong southerly winds for both days of racing. This will see the yachts beating in to a headwind for part of the race south to Cockburn Sound. A bit of hard work on the first day to reap the rewards of some nice spinnaker runs back on Sunday. Eighteen power boats will cruise to Rockingham along with the yachts to enjoy the social activities ashore.
The team from The Cruising Yacht Club of WA are known for their wonderful hospitality, they will greet teams on arrival and the boats will moor at the Club overnight.
On the water there should be a good show in Division Two where Chris Higham’s Argo, Robert Halvorsen’s Giddy Up and Ian Clyne’s Joss have been enjoying some competitive racing so far this season. This weekend Joss will be helmed by Ian’s 22 year old son Patrick.
In the Double Handed Division, regulars Low Flying Duck, Fifty Four and Cutty Wren will be joined by Adrian Wilson’s TouchNGo, Peter Easby’s Ghwazee and Denis Vincent’s Wyuna. Division One will see two sister boats, Sue Sea and Optimus Prime come out to play. Owned by Brian Todd and Trevor Taylor, both are Marten 49’s.
There is a good mix in Division Three, this competitive fleet will have some great racing. Hugh Warner’s Ocean Ranger led the fleet in the recent Coventry Reef Race, we will wait to see if she can stay ahead of Dynamic, owned by Laurie and Madeleine Flynne this weekend.
A new addition to this annual event will be the Youth Cup Series. Eligible yachts will be those with at least one crew member under the age of 25. To encourage participation of young adults in to offshore racing, there are some great prizes up for grabs including a Kannad PLB thanks to Survitec Group, gear bags from One Sails Perth and Gill sunglasses supported by Gill Australia.
For the power boats, they will cruise back together on Sunday stopping at Rocky Bay for a relaxed lunch time raft up to celebrate the festive season.
– Susan Ghent, RFBYC Offshore Media
