Corrected time victory for skipper Stephen Brown who makes amends in Mary Maitland

Division-two skipper Stephen Brown made up for his dismal performance in heat three when he stormed home to win by nearly two minutes and take heat four of the six-heat winter series on corrected time at the Princess Royal Sailing Club last Saturday.

A mixed fleet of six yachts competed in a short harbour-course event.

The two Flying Fifteens won the start and led throughout.

They were certainly much quicker than the rest of the fleet and had to be well ahead at the finish to score a place.

A steady north-easterly about 12 knots sent the boats smartly around the course with Brown chasing the Fifteens all the way.

A new kid on the block made its first appearance, as Wayne North with Ela North as his only crew on Just Grace were giving a good account of themselves and managed to stay in touch even without the use of a spinnaker.

Neil Worrell handed the tiller to Dave Wessel for this race and Zuri began well and finished well but in between things didn’t go to plan. However, there are still two more races to rebound.

Geoff Oliver, skipper of Excitabull, could not start with the others because of engine failure but eventually got away and looked very fast on all legs.

Brown continued to put pressure on the Fifteens and when Simon Lucas made a navigational error it opened the door for both Aileen Lucas in Crazy and Brown in Mary Maitland.

FForever Young recovered its lost ground and finished with a burst to the finish line, with Crazy and Mary Maitland not far off.

Brown was the winner with Wayne North second with Just Jane, and Simon Lucas in FForever Young taking third and fastest time.

Heat five is scheduled for this Saturday with a 1.30pm start.