This was a new race venue and by what we saw on Friday after the boats were scrutineered, it appeared to be excellent for the displacements, but a little short. Come a cold Saturday morning at 7.30am the course had been lengthened and it was great, with just enough room for two buoy turns at each end. The venue is probably one of the best in the state, if not the best for spectators because they were so close to the action.

The APBA ran a ‘tight ship’, with the breath testing, driver briefing and commencing on time. There were plenty of tractors and with the Ski Club doing a great job of getting the boats in and out of the water, everything ran very smooth for both fine sunny days.

We ‘the 1.6 Litre Oz Lite Hydros’ had some good racing and from what I can understand, the vast proportion of the "non boating" crowd had not seen hydros run before, particularly in such close quarters. We had close racing all the weekend, a full program of races, which kept it interesting and the public loved it - this what they had come to see!!

Congratulations to Natasha and Tom Heffernan – ‘Li’l Terra’ for first place in the Australian Championships and to Paul "Froggy" Norrish for coming third in ‘Times “R” Tuff’. At last I have a boat that is competitive [I was placed second in ‘Paradise Afloat’]. There was only one mechanical problem over the weekend and Tom fixed that - he kept us all in action.

Thanks to the boats and crews that turned up. For all the other 1.6’s - you don't know what you missed out on, as this was the best water and race meet I have been too for awhile.