Ever thought of challenging yourself to complete a coastal race short-handed? Performance Boating are delighted to announce that we are sponsoring a 2-handed division in this year’s Newport to Coffs Coats Race starting on December 27th and are here to help you if this sparks your interest. It will be run under PHS with a perpetual trophy for the overall winner, as well as trophies and substantial prizes for 2nd and 3rd. In addition there will be a trophy for the first mixed crew, and the first all woman’s crew!
Short-handed racing is undergoing a huge increase in popularity Worldwide as crew are becoming harder to find, and yachts and sails are becoming easier to handle, so with two crew and an autopilot it has proven to be both safe and competitive. As an example there were no less than 57 short-handed entries in last year’s Fastnet Race, and the overall winner on IRC the previous year was a two-handed entry.
PBS Director Lee Condell is up for the challenge and will be an entrant, having spent multiple seasons racing up and down the coast both double and single-handed in the SSAA series in the past. If you haven’t tried this form of sailing before it brings a whole new aspect to racing where planning is a key element of race strategy, and each manoeuvre needs to be thought through well in advance. There is an enormous amount of satisfaction in just completing a race of this type.
The safety requirements are AYF Category 3, just as the rest of the fleet. For anyone reading this who may be up for the challenge see the event details here, or contact Lee directly to find out more details on lee@performanceboating.com.au