When Jonathan and Wendy Newbury purchased their X-34 "SeXtant" from me in 2011 they suggested that I might like to join them for their annual major regatta Lexus Lincoln Race Week.  Held in the seafood capital of Port Lincoln in South Australia, I jumped at the opportunity.  Lincoln Week has been running for 37 years and is sailed on Boston Bay and the surrounding area.  The consistent wind and flat water inside Boston Bay makes for ideal sailing conditions in the typical South Easterly breezes. 

As "SeXtant" has not been measured, we were racing in the Performance Cruising division where a PHS handicap system is used.  In essence, the better you go in the races, the higher your handicap gets... as we were soon to realise.  Our crew for the week was Jonathan and Wendy on helm and pit respectively, Andy De Laine on the bow, Drew Cornell-Trapp at the mast, Cameron Percival from Dimension-Polyant sailcloth trimming jib and spinnaker and myself trimming the mainsail, Cameron and I shared the tacticians role between us.  

Race One was a short harbour race around fixed marks.  After a nice start we managed to extend all the way around the course to take line honours and also win on corrected time.  The next race was the long race and with a massive pin end bias, we started on port tack and crossed the fleet easily. 

From there we sailed a nice upwind leg before a two sail reach out past the Bickers Group of islands to Donnington Rock where we set the spinnaker.  Because fishing is such a big part of the local economy, there are numerous fish and mussel farms and halfway down the run we had to alter course to miss a fish farm. 

From there it was a pretty straightforward course and we managed to win that race on line honours and handicap too.  Race three was quite short with windward leeward, an upwind leg and then a fetch before a short upwind leg to finish the off Spalding Cove.  With such a short race we worried about holding our time against the slower yachts, but after finishing first across the line, we timed the other finishers and confirmed that we had won our third race on corrected time. 

Following the race is a Lexus Lincoln Race Week tradition with Megga's BBQ being held on the beach and every boat and crew anchor then come ashore for food, drinks and a great time.  With "SeXtant" sitting happily at anchor the official results were announced and it was confirmed that we had won the third race.  As the regatta has four races with one discard, that meant that we had won Lincoln Week with a race to spare, a fantastic result.

Lincoln Race Week is a wonderful regatta, the organisation is superb, the conditions are ideal and the people are friendly.  Tonight at the race presentation we started planning for next year because we all enjoyed the event so much, we'll be back again.  I would like to thank Jonathan and Wendy for their wonderful hospitality and al of our crew for making the regatta a truly memorable experience..