VX One Midwinters – Day 2

It was breeze on for day two at the VX One Midwinters, sailed from Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. The 11 boat fleet managed to get in four races in an 18-20 knot sou’wester, with plenty of action and close finishes.
Andrew York was “Boat of the Day” with a 1, 3, 1,1 on Speedwagon.
“Play of the Day” went to John Whitbread, who had two OCS’s today (he returned), but also managed to hit the record speed on VX’s, 24.7 knots!
The first race of the day, the third of the series was started in about 15 knots. Andrew York, the new series leader, was off to a quick start to lead around mark 1. While he was never headed, the battle behind between Daniel Alcock on Angry Beaver, and Brett Whitbread on SuperVax was fierce. Alcock had the edge upwind all day, but Whitbread was a rocket ship downwind, slipping into second at the finish as the breeze increased to 18 knots with puffs of 20. Fourth and fifth also had a close battle, with Alan Moffat on Ovi One Kenobi beating Sticky Fingers and Adam Janczyk.
Race 4 was won convincingly by Dan Alcock and the Franklin brothers. They nailed the start below the fleet and continued to increase their lead around the track. Meanwhile, the battle for the smaller podium was fierce. After a slow start, Andrew York on Speedwagon made his way through the fleet, but he couldn’t catch the downwind speedster, Brett Whitbread and “The Crack” on SuperVax. Yorky finished third, fourth was Janczyk on Sticky Fingers and fifth was “The Beast” and Michael James, also a two up crew with serious downwind speed!

The third race of the day, race 5 was my personal favourite. The battle between Alcock and Yorky was on for young and old all the way around the track. Yorky showed his experience in the class, keeping the young gun on his heels right to the finish with “maybe a length of a spinnaker pole between us!” in his words. The pressure amongst the pair was evident, with both immediately capsizing at the finish (see pics and video). Michael James on “The Beast” had a pearler of a race, finishing in third, Whitbread was fourth, and Moffat fifth.
By race 6 the breeze was averaging 20 knots, with upward puffs at 150 degrees and plenty of Moreton Bay chop. “Boat of the Day” was at a three way tie between the Angry Beaver, Speedwagon, and SuperVax, as an indicator of just how tight the eleven boat fleet is, even in plus 18 knot conditions. There were plenty of capsizes, and John Whitbread reached 24.7 knots of boat speed on the run! The battle between Alcock and Yorky was on yet again. Yorky was off to an early lead, but Alcock sailed the bottom third of the run with speed and smarts to get room at the gate. Yorky was not letting go, and passed Alcock by the finish to seal “Boat of the Day” and the regatta lead, with newcomers Sticky Fingers in third, followed SuperVax and Ovi One Kenobi.