Veteran skipper Bob Giles shows up division-2 field in masterful display aboard Footloose

Octogenarian skipper Bob Giles of division-two yacht Footloose showed he hadn’t lost his touch on Saturday, blitzing the small fleet to record a memorable first and fastest in a King George Sound event.

The race was conducted in a stiff southerly that averaged about 17 knots, meaning quick times around the course.

After an ordinary start, Giles cranked up the tempo to lead the fleet under spinnaker out into the sound for several legs before returning to the harbour still in the lead.

Footloose was flying and leaving the others in her wake.

Stephen Brown had Mary Maitland the closest to the leader, and recently has been the fastest in the fleet but on Saturday had to lower his colours to Giles.

Neil Worrell in Zuri was sailing well and wasn’t far off the pace.

Stephen Lee, with a skeleton crew on Flasheart, was battling when he opted to sail under jib and main.

Giles finished well ahead to take the coveted first and fastest, with Brown in second place and Zuri in third.

Division one also sailed a King George Sound race. Murray Deere in Wild One and Geoff Oliver in Excitabull staged an interesting encounter in the early stages as they were locked together under spinnaker as they made for the sound.

Oliver looked to be causing a big upset until Deere pulled away towards the finish.

Oliver was thrashed by Deere in their last meeting, but on Saturday he was showing just how good the smaller boat was.

However, Deere went on to take the race by just over a minute, leaving Oliver in second place after a great duel.

Flying Fifteens competed in a harbour course event which saw Simon Lucas in FForever Young beginning well to establish a slight lead over both Aileen Lucas in Crazy and Wayne North in Frequent Flyer.

At times during this race the three were hundreds of metres apart as they tried to find a quicker way to come together again a little later, with FForever Young still leading the way narrowly.

Crazy was staying within touch and North had been doing well on handicap as they neared the finish line.

FForever Young was first over but relegated to third on corrected time, despite recording fastest time.

Frequent Flyer had sailed well enough to score a victory by a mere one second ahead of Crazy on corrected time, and there is an anxious wait for the Norths who are now on a hat-trick.