Townsville yacht holds lead in Performance Racing
Townsville yacht holds lead in Performance Racing 
'Vivace. Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week Day 4 racing'
Ian Grant ©
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Sailing a windward/leeward race in Pioneer Bay, the Performance Racing fleet thoroughly enjoyed the consistent 25 knot tradewinds. 'A great day of sailing and close results' was the unanimous comment from skippers and crews.
Fahrenheit placed 11th on corrected time to head the pointscore with 22 points after a consistent 5-1-5 in the previous races. Second overall is the local Whitsunday Sailing Club boat Rising Farrst, Tim Osborne's Farr 1104 on 25 points (2-15-1-7) while third is Damien Suckling's Another Fiasco, a Jutson 43 from Abel Point Yacht Club on 28 points (3-8-3-4).
Victory today went to the Mooloolaba yacht Wild Spirit in a close result with the New Zealand entry Bulllrush,, Anthony Robinson's Elliot 12 and WSC's Idle Time, a Spacesailor skippered by Kevin Fogarty.
The Sports Boats also sailed a windward/leeward race with Principal Race Officer Tony Denham deciding conditions were potentially too strong to send them on a passage race. The fleet provided some spectacular spinnaker runs but the strong winds forced four retirements, including X2 Tangent, Simon Vincent's Elliot 780, which broke its rudder.
Sports Boat Association secretary Cam Rae from Royal Geelong Yacht Club sailed a fine race in the 25 knotter with his Thompson 8 Bendigo Private, winning by just one minute on corrected time from the Melges 24 Northshore Simrad, skippered by Steve Battley from the South of Perth Yacht. Another West Australian, Heath Townsend, placed third in Kaito, also a Melges 24.
It was a deserved win for Rae, who has been one of the driving forces in introducing the new SMS (Sports Boat Measurement) handicap system for the wide variety of boats that race as Sports Boat. Bendigo Private's win was the only the second defeat for the little Egan 6 Quantum Sails, skippered by Graham Sherring from Southport Yacht Club.
However, Quantum Racing still holds a commanding pointscore lead with a score of 9 points from placings of 2-1-1-1-4. Bendigo Private is on 19 points (9-3-3-3-1) followed by Noel Leigh-Smith's Bethwaite-designed Vicace (1-4-9-5-9) and Heath Townsend's Melges 24 (4-2-7-12-3) both on 28 points.
by Peter Campbell 
Thirroul, NSW
