Lagoons racing at the Beneteau Cup Pittwater
Early showers didn’t discourage the 2 Lagoons and 34 Beneteau owners and their crews who participated in the Beneteau Pittwater Regatta on Saturday 29th of April.
For the first time in the event’s 11 year history, Lagoon catamarans were invited to take part in the regatta with a dedicated Lagoon division.
Lagoon Catamarans representative from Vicsail Sydney, Steve Austin, helmed a Lagoon 400 with Tom Murphy from Vicsail Sydney also joining the crew.
They were joined at the regatta by a Lagoon 380. With just 2 boats, the race was shaping up to be an interesting match race.
The L400 got the better of the start and got ahead of the L380 which got stuck in a hole at the pin end.
As the L400 approached the first rounding mark on port tack, they had to work their way up avoiding all the traffic of the Beneteaus coming on starboard tack. This enabled the L380 to close up the gap with the L400.
When a light breeze finally picked up after a quick shower, the L380 crew unfurled their gennaker and sailed an impressive quick reach, overtaking the L400 in the process (which didn’t have a gennaker rigged).
However as the L380 got to the next mark, they got stuck in another hole enabling the L400 to re-gain the lead. The crew on the L400 battled hard on the upwind leg to the finish line looking for every bit of breeze. They eventually crossed the finish line first with only a couple of minutes left before the race timeout!
Checkout the photos of the 2 Lagoons racing below or on our Facebook album.
Looking forward, the next Beneteau & Lagoon Regatta will be held in Sydney later this year.
