11 January 2010
By Peter Campbell
Octogenarian yachtsman Gordon Ingate has sailed his International Dragon class yacht Whim into third place in the prestigious Prince Philip Cup for 2010, sailed from on Perth’s Swan River from the Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club.
Now approaching his 84th birthday, the veteran Squadron member has notched up a win (his first), a second and now a third with Whim in the past three Prince Philip Cups. In all, he has been sailing Dragons for 54 seasons and is still, obviously, a formidable opponent.
Start of the last race of the Prince Philip Cup in Perth.
This year’s Prince Philip Cup attracted an excellent fleet of 29 boats, including International Dragon Association president Rob Campbell, who helmed Robert Alpe’s boat Indulgence. The Russians, Mikhail Muratov, and his wife Olga White, who competed in Sydney last year, also contested the regatta.
In a hard-fought seven race series, local Perth skipper Richard Lynn, helming Puff, held on to a slender lead to win the prestigious trophy, finishing third in the last race to beat Russia’s Olga White, steering Murka II, by 4.7 points under the old Olympic scoring system still used for this event.
Puff had a scorecard of 1-1-4-4-4-2-3 to finish with a net 24.7 points, Murka II’s score was 3-8-5-3-1-1-4 for 29.4 points, while Whim recorded a series of 12-7-1-1-11-5-2 for 43 points. Another WA boat, Red Baron, skippered by Tony Lynn, placed fifth on 61.4 points while in sixth place was the Sydney boat Indulgence, helmed by IDA president Rob Campbell, on 72.4 points.
Robert Alpe, who crewed on his own boat, Indulgence, described the regatta as “an interesting series… we should have finished sixth but we screwed up in the final race.” He added that attempts to run morning races on the Swan had not enhanced the regatta.
Alpe said the Russians planned to contest the International Dragon World Championships in Melbourne in 2010 and also would contest the Pre-Worlds over Easter this year.
Defending Prince Philip Cup Nick Rogers did not compete in Perth but plans to contest the Pre-Worlds and the Worlds in 2010. He is a former World champion in the International Dragon class.
Of the other Sydney competitors in the Prince Philip Cup 2010, Baikal, skippered by Wolf Breit, finished eighth overall, Wizardry, helmed by Andrew York, placed 14th while Carl Ryves, steering Sidewinder, placed 19th in a disappointing series.
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