16 Sabres made the trip down to the stunning south west town of Walpole.
Our sailors were represented from Safety Bay, East Freo, Perth Dinghy and Walpole.
Our fleet contributed to 140 boats with other good turnouts from the Tasar, 125, Mirrors and Windrush classes
Day one saw 10 -12 knots of breeze – good close racing throughout the fleet.
The top 4 boats of Pete, Ed, Graham and Craig were constantly changing places.
Pete Coop led overnight with Ed Bannerman 1 pt behind.
Day 2 arrived with clear blue skies and an increasing breeze which built throughout the day with afternoon races peaking at 22 knots – ‘champagne sailing’. – One dismasting a broken tiller extension and numerous capsizes were among a number of challenges facing the sailors in the flat out conditions.
By the close Ed had taken the regatta by just one 1pt from Pete with Craig completing the podium in 3rd.
The chairman of WA Yachting came down to witness the Walpole experience and spoke at the presentation.
He was blown away at what he saw and said that this event was ‘defying gravity’ Nationally as a blueprint for how to get huge commitment and interest for a highly successful regatta – the numbers have been growing at 30% per year!!
The unique combination of a community pulling together with Vision, Planning and endless volunteers combined with a stunning geographical backdrop is obviously working when nearly all other events are declining.
Special commiseration goes to Gavin Davies who had to turn back at Bunbury due to mechanical problems with his van – what followed was a 5 hour trip back to his home as he was stuck in 2nd gear only able to go at 35kmph!!
George Coop did a great job with his drone capturing the whole regatta – his footage was shown during presentations and is now online – click here to view