JOHNO Knight continued his recent winning form to take outright honours of the Donald Signs-R-Us third Stawell Yacht Club Pennant race.
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The race was held in a moderate westerly breeze and proved to be an enjoyable event for most sailors, with eight dinghies hitting the water but only five finishing.
Commodore Tony Hillier was forced to retire before the start when his mast broke and George Grellet had to head for the beach with a faulty halyard midway through the race when his sail fell down in the midst of a duel with Peter Knight midfield.
Roger Spratt had a slow start and retired late in the race after failing to make ground.
At the front of the field, club champion Knight started badly allowing Jan Ibs von Seht and Andrew Pearce to jump away early, with Peter Knight and Ross Bennett well in the mix, maintaining a tight bunch along with George Grellet for the first three legs.
Knight finished ahead of Andrew Pearce who was second despite a capsize when his boom hit the water on the penultimate leg, and Ross Bennett third in an excellent performance in his first competitive Impulse outing.
As the race progressed, Peter Knight lost touch with the leading bunch, and Grellet's retirement left a tightknit bunch of four including a hard charging Bennett to fight out the finish.
Handicap results were Johno Knight first followed by Jan Ibs von Seht in second and Ross Bennett third.
As sailors assembled their boats the big surprise was the welcome addition of yet another Impulse class dinghy to the club's burgeoning fleet.
Longstanding and highly successful Mosquito class catamaran skipper Ross Bennett, having had a test sail in an Impulse just a fortnight earlier, obviously decided that this was for him and made the decision to purchase a near new Formula Sailcraft boat from Queensland last week.
These fibreglass dinghies are made by Jim Scott at his factory in Willliamstown, Victoria, so Bennett's boat is already well travelled.
The boat is named 'In A Pink Fit' with a hull uniquely pink in colour, so it should be easy for the officials to pick should Bennett venture across the line before the start gun.