4 October 2011

Rain, bitter cold and 20 knot winds did little to dampen the enthusiasm amongst the 24-strong fleet for the NSW Heron State Titles hosted by Lake Macquarie over the October long weekend.

With a forecast of storms and strong winds for day two of the regatta, a wise decision was made to run three of planned six races on day one.

When a storm and strong winds trumpeted in on Sunday, most of the sailors packed up for the day and headed to the movies!

The clouds slowly dissipated through Monday morning, leaving the conditions fine, sunny and windy (averaging 16-19 knots).

Despite the weather, everyone genuinely seemed to enjoy themselves, with the Narrabeen sailors, in particular, relishing the relative constant breezes to be had on the lake.

Narrabeen took out three of the top five places, with Greg Harris (crew: Kai Johnston), James Gough (Oliver Gough) and Ian Milton (Suzie Milton) taking third, fourth and five places.

Our youngest skippers – and the only female skippers in the regatta – did us extremely proud. Georgia Llewellyn (crew: Eleanor MacGregor), 13, took out 11th place and Emma Harris (Kate Fitzgerald) came in at 15th.

Ian Macgregor (crew: Pam Johnston) came a respectable 8th and newcomer Anthony Johnston (crew: Reece Johnston) took out the 20th spot.

Log on to the NSW Heron Association website to see all the action.