Commodore Simon Davenport, Paul Wright, Bart
Brouwer, Andy Hill, Graham Atkinson, Gary Illing and Dene Marfleet.
Camera IconCommodore Simon Davenport, Paul Wright, Bart Brouwer, Andy Hill, Graham Atkinson, Gary Illing and Dene Marfleet. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Hillarys Yacht Club brings keelboat racing season to a close

John BirdJoondalup Times

THE Harbour Room at Hillarys Yacht Club (HYC) was packed with crews, family and friends to celebrate the keelboat racing season on Saturday.

The May 20 event included presentation of trophies in 21 categories ranging from the Commodore’s Cup to Club Champion for 2016-17.

A highlight was the respect shown during the slideshow celebrating the contribution of former commodore Chris Grant to HYC and the acclamation for the naming of the third consistency race of the season as the Chris Grant Memorial Race.

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The excitement generated through the presentations culminated with the major awards towards the end of the evening.

Most improved went to Bruce Ellery on Show Me while crew person of the year was John Aldous on Perle.

The Viking Championship was won by Helga (Mark Taylor); Dart Vader (Wayne Pitcher) took out the IRC Championship. The overall consistency trophies went to Sensei (Brett Bailey), Covert Operation (Bart Brouwer and Graham Atkinson) and Perle (John Bird) in their respective divisions and the club champion for 2016-17 was Covert Operation.

Vice commodore Neil Harrison urged all present to give generously for the fundraising auction of wine with $1150 raised for the Whitsunday Sailing Club that suffered damage at the hands of cyclone Debbie.

Band No Direction performed after the formalities.

Sailors get Kraken

KRAKEN enjoyed success in the 2017 race from Fremantle to Bali, a journey of more than 1500 nautical miles.

Lead boat Garth Curran’s Walk on the Wild Side took six days and 14 hours to complete the race.

Kraken was third across the line however was second on IRC and fifth on Yachting Australia Handicap.

The result is all the more meritorious given Kraken is 20 feet shorter than the big boats and is sailed by just two crew whilst the big boats have up to ten crew.

Hillarys Yacht Club member Todd Giraudo has dominated the double-handed scene in offshore races.

Last year Kraken won the double-handed division in the Fremantle to Geraldton race, however lost its mast in the second leg on their way to Denham.

Despite the setback, Kraken was repaired and with the latest success is on track for competing in next year’s Melbourne to Osaka race.