Division two victory for Ian Johnston on corrected time with Cambio in King George Sound race

Division two skipper Ian Johnston won his first race on corrected time with his fairly new yacht Cambio in last Saturday’s King George Sound event.

Johnston has scored a second and a third so far this season but sailed extremely well in his latest outing to win with time to spare against some gun boats.

Johnston was able to stay in touch of the leading yachts throughout and was always in contention for a place.

Five yachts started in ideal sailing conditions with a light but steady south-easterly around 11 knots, which was very pleasant compared with some of the dreadful weather experienced early in the season.

Stephen Brown won the start with Mary Maitland and led the fleet almost into the sound, where he was swamped by the likes of Chris Oldham in Joker, Stephen Lee in Flasheart and the eventual winner Johnston in Cambio.

Sicarius was a new yacht making a guest appearance in this fleet and the skipper will be all the better for the experience.

Joker surprisingly led the fleet back into the harbour, with Johnston and Lee not far behind.

All of a sudden Flasheart surged to the lead with Joker doing everything to keep up but to no avail as Lee took line honours but could only get third and fastest in a masterly display. Johnston took the race easily on corrected time, with Joker not disgraced in second place.

Four division one yachts competed in a King George Sound race and Geoff Oliver in Excitabull gave his bigger opponents a bit of cheek by winning the start and leading the way out into the sound where he was over-powered by the likes of Marco Giuntoli in Scappata, Harold Keay in Shagabull and Brett Hawker in Jessie James.

Keay had opted to go JAM (jib and main) as he had an inexperienced crew on board but he still managed to stay in touch with the leading boats.

As they sailed back into the harbour, Scappata was leading but only just ahead of Jessie James.

As they neared the finish line all interest was on Scappata and Jessie James and who would win. Hawker got the nod with a generous handicap, leaving Giuntoli in second place and with fastest time, while Harold Keay was third.

Three Flying Fifteens held a harbour course event and Simon Lucas had FForever Young away very rapidly, knowing that he had to be more than two minutes ahead of either the other two to win.

Aileen Lucas with crew Ela North on Crazy had a close encounter with John Swarbrick and Wayne North on Frequent Flyer throughout the race, with the lead changing frequently.

FForever Young went on its merry way and was looking good for that elusive win until both Crazy and Frequent Flyer made up the gap to the leader in the latter stages.

Simon Lucas crossed the finish line about 10 seconds too late, handing the race to Aileen Lucas in a very narrow win.

Swarbrick was second, leaving Simon Lucas in third place but with fastest time.

Two Vipers held two unofficial short course harbour races and both skippers and crews put on a show of speed, each having a win.