Thanks and congratulations to Cleveland Yacht Club for hosting this great event for the past 50 years, and welcoming sailboards to join the fun again!
The 2019 Peel Island marathon was held yesterday in very light winds providing sailors with a different challenge to last year's race.
The boards were started with the large cats and required to sail twice around Peel Island.
In 2018 winds exceeded 25kns at times and there were large swells in parts of the course where there were strong wind against tide situations.
Five boards entered: 1xRaceboard, 1xWally, 1xFreestyle, and 3xRace Windfoils.
Two boards finished: A Raceboard, and one Race Windfoil.
The Windfoil (AUS-71) finished first across the line and Raceboard (AUS-187) won on corrected time.
This year's race started in a dying southerly with last of ebb tide, there was over an hour of calm after the race start before a 5-10kn northerly finally filled across the bay at about 1:30pm with a flood tide. Progress was very slow until the tide turned.
Due to time limits, the course for large cats and boards was shorted to one lap ( same course as slower cats and mono's).
Four boards entered: 1xRaceboard, and 3xRace Windfoils.
The only sailboard to complete the course around Peel Island this year was the Raceboard (AUS-187).
While Raceboards are not always the fastest boards on the course, they do offer the most consistent performance in the widest range of conditions
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