Last weekend a total of 38 power boats stormed up and down Melville Waters under just as stormy skies for State Heat 1 of the Cruising & Power Yacht Committee of YWA, Power Yacht Time Trials.

Time trialling is about just as much grace, finesse and fine tuning as their sailing counterparts where the results truly come down to seconds. The aim is to pass the designated marks or locations at an exact time and a second or seconds either side are scored against your team. The team of Skipper and Navigator at the end of the day with the least points wins.

Binoculars and synchronised stopwatches in hand the keen-eyed volunteer’s man their stations on land and water unbeknownst by the teams which marks are being observed each round. They watch for last minute acceleration or deceleration or changes in course to wash off speed all whilst counting the seconds for an accurate recording.

With teams nominating their speed around the course there is plenty of seconds to be won and lost with the quicker boats completing the course in just over 39 minutes whilst the slower boats can take up to almost two hours.

Results: Tracy Leveridge-Smith and Anthony Smith aboard ‘Brazen’ won the day with only eight seconds lost, just in front of Guy Skinner and Richard Evans on ‘Thanet’ with nine seconds. A tie for third with both ‘Sirius’ with David Groucutt and Don Tregonning and ‘Xindi’ with Geoff Wells and Dianne Clarke on an equal dozen points.

State Heat 2 was held yesterday with another strong turnout from 49 power yachts. Where the top 14 on the leaderboard were separated by just 10 seconds/ lost points.

'Thanet' with Guy Skinner and Richard Evans took the day with least points, with 'Dalusional' Troy Dalglish and Victoria Blanckensee tied in second with 'Purrfect' John and Lynne Cooper just two seconds behind.

All results on sportspage.com.au.
Contact your local club if you’d like to learn more or become one of the gracious and thankful volunteers for an hour or so on a weekend.

Images: Thanks to Lindsay Preece of Ironbark Photos, visit him on Facebook.