Royal Yacht Club of Victoria member Erin Peters, at the helm of the Adams 10 Top Gun, dominated handicap results on the opening day of the 19th Australian Women's Keelboat Regatta on Melbourne's Port Phillip.
Top Gun heads the pointscores under IRC, AMS and PHS handicaps after the first two races for the 20-boat fleet, including winning both races on IRC corrected time.
Hobart woman yachtsman Dianne Barkas, from the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, sailed the Sydney 38 Scarlet Runner to line honours in both windward/leeward races, but could not hold her time with Scarlet Runner the highest rating boat in the regatta.
The 150 women sailors from Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania turned on an impressive display of sailing, with aggressive starts and competitive mark rounding - resulting in two racing rules protests.
Racing began in a light northerly breeze which freshened to 15 knots as it backed to the north-west for the second race with the major windshift to the left favour the leading boats in the mixed fleet that ranges from J24s to ocean racing yachts.
After two heats of the six race regatta, Top Gun leads the IRC division with two firsts, the AMS division with a first and a second, and the PHS division with a 2-3 result.
Holding second place in the IRC division is Salamander III, also an Adams 10, skippered by Janet Dean from the host club, the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron, with a 2-4 score, while in third place is Nouannie, a Scampi 30 helmed by Tanya Stamford, from the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria, with a 7-2 result.
The Tasmanian crew sailing Scarlet Runner is fourth overall after IRC corrected time placings of 3rd and 7th and fifth in AMS with a 4-6 score.
In the AMS division, Top Gun leads another Adams 10, Executive Decision, sailed by Joanne Norbury from the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron, and Nouannie, which won the second race on corrected time.
Top Gun, which won the IRC and AMS divisions of the 2008 regatta, leads the PHS division from Meridian Passage (Alison Binks, RMYS) and Just Quietly (Claire Fazakerley, RYCV).
Of the two South Australian crews, Helen Wilmer and her team sailing the Dubois 34 Spellbound, is seventh overall in the AMS division while Mrs Overnewton, a Bavaria Match 38 skippered by Lisa Bettcher, is eighth in the IRC division.
Racing will continue tomorrow and on Monday on the top end of Port Phillip, with fresher breezes forecast for Sunday.
Sailing
