It was a many time delayed #comocup day at Georges River Sailing Club, with a light South Easterly breeze.

A famed event with some tall and scary tales of the damage done on the shallow sandbar that must be missed if you are to return from Como with your boat in one piece. A map was provided, but just follow the old hands seemed to make the most sense. The race is to Como and back, not navigationally challenging, just count to 3 bridges that you have gone under, then look for a bouy, round it and come home, but just don't hit the sandbar.

Given there was no breeze though, the tip was that if the first boat has not reached Como by 2.45 pm then turn around mark will be dropped in front of them and the race "abridged", so keep an eye out for that. The stalwarts of many Como Cups were smiling at the uninitiated such as me, and commenting on how fluky the winds can be under the bridges.

The last time I sailed under a bridge was decades ago and fluky wind was the least of my problems; height was the issue, resolved by unjamming our Mirror dinghy from the bridge by lowering the gaff! I figured this race has been run before so we must fit under the bridges.

And so it was an expectant but depleted bunch of 6 #rsaero sailors (get well those with colds and COVID) and about 14 #ILCA who limbered up for the off the beach Le Mans start at intervals determined by the handicapper, who I now know to be really nice to next season.

Given the almost complete lack of breeze the theory was to start off like a bobsled with an almighty push to get you to Como and use the tide to come back. It was a close hauled time trial to round the first point, set sight on bridge 1 and settle in for a dead square run for circa 4 NM chasing the front markers, wondering if an Aero should go faster than a Laser downwind and what to do about the Aero 9 bearing down on me from behind.

The breeze had improved to about 7 to 10 knots at this point and with bridge 3 at a bit of a distance then came the sight of Diane's Aero at full tilt coming back from Como, flat as a tack, telltales streaming, almost planing! I thought "what a helluva lead that is, need a miracle". So what are the tactics on a beat back to the club with a fair few land points to get around?

It seemed like the wind was best in the middle and there might have been some tidal assistance there too. So it became an edge avoidance mission, chase the "pressure", try and catch Kylie and Bruce Litchfield who were making nice headway on the return trip.

Generally, this strategy worked and I was picking up a few places, but no one was going to catch Di. After a very close call on a reverse capsize in fluky winds under a bridge, I then knew what the old Como hands were getting at. One boat every year apparently does the reverse capsize and it was a Laser today, phew! There were no reported groundings in this edition, but be warned, if you go to Como when the tide is low you could be in for a big surprise.

Plain sailing followed the reverse capsize close call, with a reach to the finish and a welcome end of season drinks and nibblies gathering. Many thanks to Georges River Sailing Club for arranging that.

A great event, dont miss it next year, hopefully back to it's pre-Christmas date.

Placings:

1. Diane Vukelic

2. Bruce Murphy

3. Boyd Newton

4. Bruce Litchfield

5. Kylie Symonds

6. Wayne Lonergan