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A classic Hobart summers day for Round 3 of the Marblehead Summer Series. Around 27 degrees and smoke haze from numerous fires around the State, brought in on the light nor-norwesterly winds throughout the morning with a sou-east sea breeze by mid-afternoon. It was good to see the return of Wayne Behrens, and with a small fleet of 6 boats, racing commenced around 1:30 PM. The first few races were sailed with A rigs in light winds from the west to nor-west with the usual funky stuff and more than one way to get around the course, which was changed several times to suit the changing conditions. With the dam several meters below normal, there were also a few surprises with some boats slowing all of a sudden, then finally "dragging free" from probably old buoy lines still attached to their anchors. There were a few tangles on marks and between boats themselves but nothing too serious. Racing was close for the first 4 races, yours truly winning the first, Ray Joyce the second and Andrew Wardrop winning Races 3 and 4. After the first drop, Andrew led on 6 points, on countback from myself on 6 points, on countback from John Hall, also on 6 points, Ray Joyce on 7 points, Wayne Behrens on 12 points and Les Hanson on 17 points. Race 5 saw the sea breeze finally kick in and a change to B Rig, and for me that was just what the Fremantle Doctor ordered. Racing was still close but the F3 scored a hat trick in Races 5, 6 and 7, with Ray taking three of those podiums, Andrew two and Wayne one placing respectively. Wayne took the win in Race 8 with Ray and John Hall filling the minors. Race 9 was the final "course" race and the F3 couldn't be matched although John Hall and Andrew Wardrop gave it their best. The final race for the day was I think a first for RBRYC; a long distance race with only Marbleheads. The sea breeze was steady and after a windward start, it was a brisk walk/jogging run down to the bay mark, a few Chinese broaches and softer patches on the way, and a decent windward beat with plenty of options all the way back to the finish line. Apart from Les who sailed too close to the remaining weed banks on the point, the rest of had quite a race. Final results saw the F3 win comfortably with 11 points, Ray Joyce second with 20 points and Andrew Wardrop 1 point adrift in third place. Next Sunday is IOM Handicap racing with racing from 11:00 AM. Til then, wet sails. Stuart Dawes. 
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