7 April 2010
By Peter Campbell
Former world champion Nick Rogers and his crew of Leigh Behrens and Simon Burrows from Hobart have pulled the Easter Bunny out the hat to win the significant pre-world regatta for the International Dragon class on Melbourne’s Port Phillip.
After a slow(ish) start over the first two days, the Tasmanian crew, sailing Karabos IX from the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, won three straight races to grind down the talented Russian yachtswoman Olga White, steering Murka 11.
RSYS member Matt Whitnall, sailing Taranui won the last of the eight race series, sailed in light breezes over the Easter weekend, to finish fifth overall, just one point ahead of fellow Sydney fleet member Andrew York, helming Wizzardry.
The German yachtsman Thomas Muller, sailing the Sydney boat Liquidity with Richard Franklin and Mario Wagner as his crew, finished 7th overall, one point behind Wizzardry. Muller won two races of day two of the regatta but could not sustain that form until a third in the final race.
From eight points down in overall standings after the first two days, Rogers cut the Russians’ lead to three points on Sunday and moved to the top of the leader board with a third successive win in Easter Monday morning’s penultimate race, as Murka 11 slipped to an eighth place.
Rogers won the regatta, conducted by Royal Brighton Yacht Club, by putting a loose cover on the Russians in the light southerly breeze this afternoon. This time Karabos IX, after consolidating its position at the front of the fleet, finishing fourth with Olga White and Murka 11 finishing a disheartening 12th.
However, Karabos IX still was only a few seconds out of the top money, with the first four boats crossing the line almost line-abreast. First place went to Sydney yachtsman Matt Whitnall sailing Taranui, second to current Prince Philip Cup holder Richard Lynn from Perth, sailing Puff, third to Germany’s Thomas Muller, steering Liquidity, and fourth to Karabos IX.
In the end, Rogers, the current Tasmanian champion and a 10 times winner of the Prince Philip Cup, finished on 19 points from a scoreboard of 4-8-4-4-1-1-1-4, winning the regatta by six points from the Russian boat Murka 11 on 25 points (1-2-3-6-3-2-8-12) and Richard Lynn, sailing Puff, on 28 points (8-5-2-19-4-4-3-2).
White’s husband Mikhail Mouratov placed fourth overall on 35 points from placings of 2-1-7-2-13-6-12-5, followed by Sydney yachtsmen Matt Whitnall in Taranui on 37 points (6-7-5-13-2-10-6-1)and Andrew York in Wizzardry on 38 points (5-3-6-9-5-7-4-8), and German Thomas Muller, sailing Liquidity on 39 points.
Of the other RSYS boats in the regatta Baikal (Wolf Breit) placed 8th overall, Indulgence (Robert Alpe) 11th, Whim (Gordon Ingate) 14th and Isis (Grant Bellamy) 17th overall.
Royal Brighton Yacht Club will conduct the 2011 Dragon Worlds on Port Phillip Bay next January, preceded by the Prince Philip Cup.
From Peter Campbell
M: 0419 385 028 E: peter_campbell@bigpond.com
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