​A fresh NE funnelling down to Balmoral from Manly greeted the fleet as the boats were rigging on Saturday. However any hopes of an exhilarating sail were dashed as it seems Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde were fighting over the wind controls for the afternoon.
 
The fleet got away to an even start heading towards Grotto Pt. Firefly (Gavin & Oliver Cooke) was the first to tack away in the outgoing tide, with the others holding on closer to the lay line. First around at the top mark was Wavecatcher (Cullen and James Hughes), closely followed by Firefly and Jazze (Amy Lee / Rowan Hughes) in 3rd.
Wavecatcher had spinnaker troubles allowing Firefly to pull alongside but soon the breeze had evaporated and Jazze arrived to join the leaders in a parking lot. Finally the breeze arrived again for a virtual restart, this time with Wavecatcher getting away first and Jazze and Firefly rounding the next mark together. A poor gybe from Firefly had them dropping off the leading group. The race continued with the wind strength varying between 5 and 15 knots for the remainder of the race. 
The next work brought a Easterly shift which Wavecatcher used to create a nice gap which they were able to maintain to take the race win. Firefly had a great square run to close the gap on the leaders but Amy and James held strong to take 2nd in the Jazze with Firefly in 3rd.
 
A big thanks to Tony Mandl and Andrew Dent for their assistance with the Duty Class activities on Saturday morning. With a chunk of the Mirror fleet looking after the Juniors on Saturday morning it went very smoothly with their efforts.

​Remembrance Day this year brought a light Easterly through the heads to the fleet that was down on numbers due to exams, travel and other sailing commitments. However, the warm weather did bring Steve Malone out of hibernation for his first sail of the season in Spiegel. 
The perfect sailing conditions also allowed two of the Junior crews to skipper their boats with Jackson Dent taking the helm of Fastglass with Dad Andrew in the bow and Oliver Cooke steering in a race for the very first time in the Firefly with father Gavin crewing.
 
The fleet got away an early start with Douglas and Spencer in Waterbourne at Last being first to tack away onto Port. Two minutes later they tacked back onto starboard in a nice lift and put a gap on the fleet they were able to maintain for the rest of the race. Behind them the racing was tight. With the Firefly edging the Tigers Tail (Derek and Claudia Hadwen) around the 1st mark. The battle ensued for the next lap with Tigers Tail finally edging ahead on the next work. However, the dark horse was Steve in the Spiegel. After a slow start, he worked his way through the fleet passing Firefly and catching but not quite passing the Tigers Tail. 
 

1. Waterbourne at Last Douglas Raftesath/Spencer McKay
2. Tigers Tail Derek & Claudia Hadwen
3. Spiegel Steve Malone
4. Firefly Oliver & Gavin Cooke
5. Fastglass Jackson & Andrew Dent

 
 
This coming weekend November 18 the Mirrors are Duty Class again, so please come down a little early to help set up.
It is forecast to be a fresh NE. Looking forward to it!