A LACK of early wind didn’t dampen sailors’ spirits when the Tweed Valley Sailing Club held the third annual Tumbulgum Passage Race on Sunday.

24 entrants from Ballina to Brisbane took part in the race which set sail on Sunday, after being postponed on June 19 due to bad weather.

The Tweed Valley Sailing Club hosted event attracted a vast array of entrants, ranging from Lasers, Impulse, NS14’s, Corsairs, off-the-beach catamarans, WETA trimarans, sailing dinghies and even timber boats.

The passage race takes in many sites of the Tweed from the water as crews set out 10am, winding their way along a 21km route from Condong, past Tumbulgum and Chinderah, before finishing up at Fingal Head around noon.

Tweed Valley Sailing Club vice commodore Kevin Bourke said the event’s naturally beautiful surroundings and water conditions made it a must-do for sailors and despite a lack of early wind, the race day was a success.

He said that sailors had their skills tested when forced to navigate tricky conditions early in the race.

“Vast areas of the river had no wind at all and lighter boats had some advantage in these conditions and opened up early leads,” Bourke said.

“The few little puffs of wind that came along saw the fleet break in to two groups as they drifted downriver with the outgoing tide.”

Bourke said the race opened up after conditions improved when the fleet were passing under Tumbulgum Bridge, where a separate fleet of seven keel boats and trailer sailors began their race.

Line honours went to Michael Wilson, who sailed laser ‘Willarch’ to the finish in 4:26:00, with Mark Reynolds’ corsair last over the line in 6:06:00.

The overall handicap winner was Glenn Williams, who sailed a dinghy.