This Sunday is your chance to be taken sailing on Wallagoot Lake.
Local regulars are offering free rides on their boats, ranging from small junior boats, sabre and pacer dinghies through to the larger trailer-sailors.
The day is absolutely free, just turn up at the Wallagoot Lake Boat Club between 10am and 3pm, register and join in for a ride.
“Expect to get wet,” spokesman Tony Hastings said. “so throw on a wetsuit or old clothes and a raincoat.”
Everyone is also encouraged to pack a picnic lunch as you might be waiting for a ride on the boat of your choice.
Hastings said there is a strong fleet of boats that take part regularly and the club always welcomed new members.
Last week a big fleet took part in moderate to strong winds and officials said it was great to see the field hitting top speed.
After 40 minutes of racing, the gap between first and second was just 20 seconds, with the same gap to third in race one.
”We had a lot fun, going faster than ever before on this boat,” Hastings said on the day.
Sole entrant and winner of both races in the multi-hull fleet was Edward Molony on Paper Tiger catamaran “Tigerdelic”.
The strong gusts provided pace and ample challenge for the sailor with organisers saying he was almost literally flying around the course – the hull in the air and launching spray off the back.
“That blew the cobwebs out!” Molony said with a laugh.
On Saturday, a dozen boats competed in two handicap-race starts at the regular meet on Saturday.
Brian Wright led early and had a massive lead on the whole field, looking a sure thing to win race one. Unfortunately he took a wrong turn, scoring a disappointing “did not finish” for his efforts.
Instead it was Ed Molony and Hastings on “Superfly” who sailed through the fleet to win narrowly ahead of Rob Morton.
In third Darren Lydiard’s big, fast catamaran did the classic hare versus tortoise battle, chasing down the rest of the fleet after giving them a huge head-start.
In race two Lydiard did even better, going from last to first and taking the win.
Wright scored a well-deserved second place, after a great early battle with Alan Holbrook.
Despite a capsize and a swim, Maloney and Hastings recovered with a combination of outright speed and tricky tactics to score third, again narrowly ahead of Morton. Reif Oliver won both youth races.
“Whether it’s a comfortable cruise, or high-speed thrills and spills, you’ll have fun at the lake on Sunday,” Hastings said. For more info see wlbc.org.au
