Fascinating weather conditions made this year’s Geraldton Ocean Classic unique. Following winds on the first leg to Geraldton were forecast, but wind strength was well below expectations, leaving some skippers disappointed with their times. The trade off was a beautiful sail under sunny skies by day and bright, moonlit skies at night.

As expected, Indian skippered by Paul Eldrid in the absence of owner Craig Carter, revelled in the conditions to comfortably claim line honours, winning both IRC and PHS handicaps for division 1. In what was a surprise to many, the overall PHS winner came from Division 2 – Chris Hind’s Sagacious IV in her first race after a long and extensive refit.

Most metro crews headed back to the city so the Lobster Pot series, run by the legendary double handed sailor David “Dubbo” White attracted only five participants. Never-the-less the five-race series was completed in full on Champion Bay in Geraldton’s brisk breezes, resulting in close and enjoyable racing.  It was great to see Peter Vlaar’s Farrago taking part. Peter sailed his Farr 2-tonner to Geraldton and back purely for “a bit of a sail on the ocean”.

A strong wind warning was forecast for the start of the return race, forcing the race committee into a 24-hour postponement. It was a wise decision for at the original start time the wind was already blowing over 25 knots and escalated quickly to 30 knots during the day with some heavy gusts much stronger than that. The wait proved a real blessing. Saturday’s breeze came from the north west and the weather system followed the fleet down the coast, giving yachts a rare opportunity to sail under spinnaker in both directions this year.

Anthony Kirke’s Enterprise, a well-prepared Farr 40, made the early running but could not shake off a dogged pair of pursuers in Al Fresco and Weapon of Choice. Tactics decided the eventual outcome when Enterprise sailed the rhumb line early and closed on the shoreline near Lancelin where pressure was better. Al Fresco, a few miles astern, followed a similar path but Weapon of Choice elected to stay well out to sea, sailing high angles and maintaining great boat speed. When the time came to return to the coast however, Weapon was badly disadvantaged as both her rivals slipped by well ahead.

Enterprise completed the return race in a little under 23 hours, which probably left the Indian team a little wistful considering the race record stands at around 20 hours and should have been well within her capabilities. Citing crew shortage, Indian cruised back to Fremantle with the race fleet so the opportunity went begging and we’ll never know whether Indian was good enough to break Trevor Taylors’s 2008 record.

It was encouraging to see three boats in division 2, which has languished for some time and will be further strengthened by the imminent arrival of Todd Giraudo’s brand new Sunfast 3300. The new Kraken, resplendent with eye catching artwork, is almost ready to go but could not be completed in time to join the Geraldton Ocean Classic.

Also encouraging was the direction taken by our own Chris Higham, who dedicated this season to promoting youth.  Argo performed well with her rookie crew, patiently taught by sail maker Rees Howell.

Surprisingly, the State’s ocean racing body has once again turned its back on the Geraldton Ocean Classic from its official calendar of events next season, as it did both last year and also this year’s return race. WA’s only annual Category 2 ocean race has been running for 51 consecutive seasons and still attracts the cream of WA’s offshore racers.  It continues to be a qualifier for the Sydney-Hobart and Bali races and will be run in 2020 by a determined joint South of Perth Yacht Club and Geraldton Yacht Club organising committee, outside the Association’s structure in a move that has disappointed many of the ocean racing community in Western Australia.

Full results at http://www.topyacht.net.au/results/sopyc/2019/GoC19/index.htm