Ideal conditions make for a fast Tarwin Marathon

ONCE a year, South Gippsland Yacht Club abandons its short course racing format and sends its sailors on an adventure to the upper reaches of Anderson Inlet in what is termed the Tarwin River Marathon.
In days past, boats would sail up the river to the Tarwin Lower Hotel.
In recent years however, the entrance has become very difficult to navigate due to silting so in the modern version of the race, boats sail up to the mouth, turn round a marker buoy and return to the club.
This format still has its difficulties as the water is quite murky, making the unfamiliar channels and sandbars very hard to see. Most boats hit bottom at least once during the race.
In some years of light, fluky winds the marathon has taken up to seven hours.
On Sunday, there was a steady 15 knot breeze which enabled the quickest boats to make the return journey in just under one and a half hours and provide exciting sailing for all involved.
The catamarans in particular, relished the long, high speed reaching legs of the race.
The yacht club was again joined by several members of the Inverloch Windsurfing Club which adds to the diversity of craft in the event and provides for some friendly rivalry between the two clubs.
Thanks also to the Inverloch SES which helped out on the safety front with two crews in inflatable boats supporting the two yacht club rescue boats.
With a large number of yachts spread across such an expanse of water it was a reassuring addition to the support fleet and valuable practice for the SES crews.
In the end the first two places went to Impulse sailors with Toby Leppin just pipping Matt Kiely.
Toby and Matt each won a three-month gym membership at Broadbeach.
In third place was Jake Luratti who continued his good form in a borrowed Windrush catamaran
Jake’s boat is still on its way back from Perth where he sailed it to second place in the Nacra 16 nationals.
Club sailing returns to normal this week with a social sail on Tuesday evening, junior training on Saturday from 10am and regular racing on Sunday.

Outstanding result: Matt Kiely leads David and Will Barker. He went on to take second place.

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Posted by Sarah Vella on Jan 16 2018. Filed under Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry