Lazy Dog jumps over the fleet

Nine boats took to the racetrack on Saturday for the first day of Act 1 of the MC38 Association 2023 series.

Photography by Nic Douglass for @sailorgirlhq

06 February 2023

It was Lazy Dog skippered by Quentin Stewart who took boat of the day with a 2, 2, 1 in challenging conditions to lead at the end of the first set of races.

In Race 1 it became very evident that it would be a left hand track for the day, even though the course was set at 270 degrees, it was regularly shifting east out of Double Bay. Swish (Steven Proud), Infotrack (Indy Beck) and Lazy Dog best positioned themselves on the first work to lead around the top mark in that order.

By the second top mark Infotrack, Lazy Dog and Swish had secured the podium for the first race of the series.

The second race was also set at 270 degrees, with an anxious fleet resulting in a general recall. When the second start got away, Ginger (Leslie Green) got the most of the pin, with Lazy Dog just off their hip.

Law Connect leading Lazy Dog.

The view of Law Connect from on board Hooligan.

Malcolm Page and Marcus Blackmore aboard Hooligan.

The all female crew aboard Leap, skippered by Katie Spithill.

Crew on Infotrack.

Infotrack Go with a late drop.

Infotrack crew.

Erin enjoying the racing on board Infotrack.

At the first top mark unsurprisingly, it was Ginger from Lazy Dog following their pin starts, with Infotrack and Infotrack Go (Christian Beck) in third and fourth.

Those positions were held into the bottom mark, but the second work saw Leap (Katie Spithill) make massive gains into the second top mark from the left hand side, sliding into third behind Ginger and Lazy Dog. Following the pattern of the first race, the final top mark positions were held into the finish line.

Leap and Lazy Dog were the winners of the start in Race 3, however, a tricky top end of the work meant that Thor (Matthew Hanning), and Law Connect (Guido Belgiorno-Nettis) got a little bit more out of the final top left shift than the others, and rounded in first and second.

Hooligan (Marcus Blackmore), made big gains on the second work out of the right hand side to take their first podium of the regatta on the run into the finish in third behind Law Connect.

It was Lazy Dog who crossed the line first, wrapping up a consistent effort to be boat of the day and sit well clear on the standings at the halfway point of Act 1 of the 2023 MC38 Series.

Full results here.

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