Mary Maitland, skippered by Stephen Brown, clinched heat five of the Princess Royal Sailing Club’s six-race winter series on June 13, pipping a disappointing field on corrected time.

Only two boats from division one of the mixed keel boat fleet, plus two from division two, faced the starter for a flying start harbour course event.

Boosted by a fresh westerly that ranged between 14 and 17 knots, quick times around the harbour were on offer.

As usual, Brett Hawker had Jessie James flying early in the proceedings, taking the lead and opening up a handy advantage.

However, Stephen Brown won the start with a quick spinnaker hoist on Mary Maitland, and this move ended up being one of the key factors in his victory.

Just Grace, again being skippered by Harold Keay, was also moving well but not as fast as Hawker.

Neil Worrell, fresh from his win in heat four, had a skeleton crew on Zuri but that didn’t prevent him from using a spinnaker at every opportunity, though it did sometimes cost him time when it got out of control.

Hawker went unchallenged and was battling the clock not other yachts while Just Grace was trailing Jessie James and not closing the gap.

Mary Maitland was sailing exceptionally well throughout and looked good for a place on handicap.

Hawker crossed the finish line well ahead in another great effort and recorded the fastest time.

However, on corrected time he was relegated to third.

Just Grace was rewarded with second place after another good show, but Brown took the race with Mary Maitland, beating Just Grace by less than a minute on corrected time in a wonderful display.

Zuri was heading for the finish under spinnaker when it struck the muddy bank only 300m from the line.

Stuck hard and fast, the start box crew, helped by Mary Maitland’s crew, used the club’s rescue boat to drag Zuri to deeper water.

This Saturday is the final heat of the winter series in what is known as the Brass Monkey Trophy race with a 1.30pm start.