A challenging afternoon for the sailors in Adelaide, with winds from the SW at 20-25 knots.  Race Officer Jock took pity on the fleet and laid a course for a shortish 40 minute shakedown inside the outer harbour as he deemed the sea conditions outside the harbour not suitable for a reasonable race.

After a fifteen minute delay, while competitors figured out the logistics of launching off the edge of a 3 metre high wharf, the Pink Flamingos ( Lewis and John from Daveys Bay Yacht Club) had a handy lead around the first mark but were overtaken downhill by The Glamour Boys.  In the end, the strong winds proved not to be too much of a challenge for the Western Australian contingent, with the top three places all being filled by Sandgropers. Leavo and Baddy in Glamour Buoys took the gun just under half a minute in front of fellow Freshwater bay sailors, David Yu and Chris Nelson in Tuffan Up.  South of Perth's Nick Jerwood finished just four seconds behind in third - this year with daughter Enfys on board in place of wife Janet.

Other WA sailors included Peter Rooke, with new crew Paul Dunbar pulling the strings in 6th, Peter Groom and John Muscio in 7th (no doubt enjoying the Geraldton-like conditions), and John Wilson in 8th, obviously saving himself for the main event.  Then followed a quadrella of WA boats - Karen and Russell Dawes in 12th,  Jen Sims and Adam Semple in 13th, Geraldton pair Stephen Pidgeon and Stuart Adamson sailing 16 in 14th, and Jeff and Greg Vance from SoPYC in 15th.

Special mention to Marc Read sailing a classic boat who finished ahead of one of the Open boats and not far behind many others in 17th.

Unfortunately, Greg and Leanne Howell and Carl and Kristine Petterson failed to make it all the way round the course, while John Hassen and Kevin Andrews damaged their mast when launching She Who Must Be Obeyed which prevented them from starting.  Simon and Eileen Lucas from Albany started, but ran aground on the first lap and retired. Philippa Packer also didn't start as she had to pick up crew Dean Macaullay from the airport.

Full results are available here.