NEWS photo Tom Burley MORE THAN 90 boats battled for breeze at Sunday’s 12 annual North Shore News Sailing Race. Clockwise from bottom left, Sunshine Girl Leigh Vincent-Lambert presents a junior pirate award to Bronwyn Bjorkman, 4; Talofa Lee skipper end News publisher Peter Speck rides out the calm; a pack plays in the breeze; a cheeky crew dangles lingerie on the back stay; a helicopter flies low for prime photographs. 13 - Wednesday, June 21, 1989 : News Catch up on arts scene PAGE 17 eee NEWS photo Tom Burley Spirits soar at sailing race THE WINDS were lacking, but sailing spirits were willing as a tightly-packed fleet of more than 90 sailing boats jockeyed for prime positioning for the 10:10 a.m. start of Sunday’s 12th annual North Shore News Sailing Race. The bulk of the flotilla squeezed the meagre breeze for what it was worth and tacked south-westerly from Dundarave on the first leg of the race to the Point Atkinson marker. But competition for the distinc- tion of last across the starting line was fierce. By 10:44 a.m., five race competitors, languishing in dead- calm water, still hadn’t managed to cross the race start line. By MICHAEL BECKER News Reporter skippered by Michael Evans, was the first to clear the Point Atkin- son marker at 12:35 p.m. Virago, skippered by Kurt Hoffmann, rounded the marker five minutes later, with Brian Morse’s Wil-O- The Wisp in close pursuit. Eight racers scrapped for a turn MORE RACE STORIES: SEE PAGES 74, 15 , oo News publisher Peter Speck, skipper of the Talofa Lee, received a timely boost across the race start line at 11:35 a.m. by Tundra Helicopters pilot Steve Harrison. The pilot positioned the copter near Speck’s boat and filled the Talofa Lee's sails with a blast of machine-made rotor wind. Just before noon, Three Cheers brought up the rear of the race as the last boat to start. Meanwhile the 40-foot Samatas, around the Point Atkinson marker at 1:20 p.m., but by 1:25 p.m., on- ly 25 boats had cleared the point. Due to flagging winds, a deci- sion was made just after 2 p.m. to end the race at the Point Grey marker rather than finish it out at the pre-determined mid-channel marker near Kits Beach. Sharp seamanship combined with Sarger hull sizes made the winning difference this year with the six swiftest boats being 32 feet in length or longer. The 33-foot Sitka, skippered by John Timmerman, finished first at Point Grey, almost 44% hours after the 10:10 a.m. start time, by roun- ding the marker at 2:35:35 p.m. Samatas ended three minutes later for a second place finish. The 35-foot Indulgence, skippered by Rene Lange, finished a minute and a hatf later for third place. It may not have been a windy event but whimsy abounded this year as some crews decked themselves out as shaggy Vikings, pirates, comic book super heroes and darkly-robed Arab women. Said News publisher Peter Speck of the annual sailing race: ‘‘Brian Morse and I invented the sailing race when we were driving down Keith Road on the North Shore 13 years ago. It was a good idea, a great idea. In all this time we’ve only cancelled one race. It was blowing more than 40 knots, but by 10 o’clock in the morning it was a flat mill-pond caim. “The race is a very nice marking of the passing of time. I see that with a lot of our skippers that I meet once a year. It’s great,’’ he said.