Equal parts good strategy, judgement and random good luck. That’s the way one reasonably satisfied tactician summed-up Race 2 of the Pantaenius Australia Commodores Cup Passage Series sailed in brilliant sunshine on a sparkling inshore racecourse.

It turned out the best pressure of the day was 9-10 knots at the start and the end of proceedings with intermittent bouts of frustration and positivism in between.

A congested upwind start off Nelson Bay break wall required concentration during quick tacking past The Anchorage and into Salamander Bay, before making slow progress around the Soldiers Point island and eventually back to Nelson Bay.

Eventual PHS Division 1 2nd placegetter Jambo, Rob Carr and Stephanie Cook’s consistently well-performed Summit King 40, elected to go to the shore and then focused on the fickle favours the wind gods dispersed.

“We avoided the current and then hung on to the back of the faster boats to Corlette,” Carr explained. “Then we just concentrated on chasing the gusts and seemed to get a few of our own personal gusts with our new A1 spinnaker up.

“The A1 was the difference for us. Needless to say, the crew was very happy, with plenty of banter between the foredeck and back of the boat about how good a job they were individually doing,” he added.

Lake Macquarie boat Tow Truck , a Melges 32, secured the silverware in Division 1 from Jambo, with Seeking Alpha, the defending Commodores Cup holder securing third.

Michael Ritchie’s 38-footer took the honours in the Super 40 Class, with Ammonite, d’Albora Marinas Little Nico and Condor taking the line honours podium.

In Division 2 Jenny Danks and Greg O’Neill’s Sydney 36 King Tide made it two bullets from two outings, with Silver Lining and Absolut rounding out the podium.

It was a banner day for the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club crew capturing a rare triple – line honours, PHS and ORC Club honours.

“It’s not something that comes anyone’s way often,” a chuffed Danks admitted.

“Today we had a very average start with a light upwind leg against tide”, she said. “Most boats in the fleet worked up the channel with gusts that paid off from the shore and sometimes further out, with everyone having their moments.

“King Tide has been enjoying Sail Port Stephens for several years and we love the challenge of the variation of conditions that is generally on offer,” Danks enthused.

A fifth in Division 3 saw Adam Boslem’s Northshore 33 set the pace at the top of the overall divisional pointscore.

“We were looking forward to today’s race being a bit lighter to slow down the bigger boats with the waterline length,” Boslem said.

“Being one of the smaller boats in the division, it’s a lot harder off the start line, getting swamped by the bigger boats,” he revealed. “The biggest thing today was just to keep moving while searching for breeze and staying away from the sand banks which claimed a few victims.”

The Elliott 780 Blacksheep worked the tides to perfection to be top dog in Division 3 PHS for the day.

Stephen Phillps and his crew on Big Blue, a Beneteau 38 managed to avoid all the pitfalls of sandbars and wind holes to take out Division 4 by just nine seconds on corrected time from Max Wood’s Compass 38 Windwood.

In the Non-Spinnaker Division Sandy Hume’s Catalina 320 capitalised on being one of the smaller and lighter entries to turn the tables on her larger rivals who enjoyed the stronger breeze on Monday.

Wednesday is forecast to deliver more light winds but many crews would welcome the opportunity to tackle the longer but equally spectacular courses around the islands lying offshore from this premier sailing venue.

Sail Port Stephens is supported by the NSW Government tourism agency Destination NSW and Port Stephens Council.