14th November 2009
By Peter Campbell
Squadron member Alan Husband’s Bavaria 42 Limelight joined a prestigious list of yachts to have their names engraved on the one of the club’s finest trophies when she won the short ocean race for the Morna Cup on Saturday.
The ocean course from Watsons Bay to Long Reef and return in a freshening nor’easter is one of Sydney’s best, but it had not been used for many seasons until revived on Saturday by the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron for the annual Morna Cup.
The race past the coastal beaches to a mark 4 nautical miles off Long Reef provided what competitors described as a ‘perfect’ course in the 10-15 knot nor’easter – a good beat to windward and an exhilarating spinnaker run back through the Heads.
For winning skipper Alan Husband in Limelight, a well-raced cruiser with good sails, the conditions could not have been better. “She is a cruising boat but we enjoy racing her and today’s steady breeze and ocean conditions were ideal…we carried a No 1 headsail all day and had a great spinnaker run home…a bit of a gybing duel with Allegro for most of the way.”
The Morna Cup is one of three short ocean races conducted by the RSYS each season, this season changing it to a one-race event rather than over a weekend with races to and from Sydney to Pittwater. The Cup dates back to 1913 and is named after the famous racing yacht Morna.
Limelight, sailing for the Squadron, won the Morna Cup as the yacht with the lowest PHS corrected time in the combined Division 1 and Division 3 fleet, with second place going to Beneteau 45 Balance, skippered by Paul CLitheroe, also a Squadron member who sails out of the CYCA. Third in the Morna Cup results was the CYCA boat Eye Appeal (Michael Delaney & John Markos).
Combined IRC results saw first place to Balance in an impressive lead-up to her Rolex Sydney Hobart Race campaign, with Imagination (Annette & Robin Hawthorn) second and Shortwave (Matthew Short) third on corrected time.
In Squadron harbour racing, former Admiral’s Cup skipper Graeme Lambert sailed Impetuous Too to victory in Division 1 while the IRC Division winner was Honeysuckle (Roy Harris). Division 2 went to Gondwana (Peter Edwards), Division 3 to Senta (Terry & Julia Clarke) and Division 4 to Salubrius (Ron O’Conner & Dave Walker).
Jervis Tilly won the International Etchells class with Bushfire while Carl Ryves returned to the winning list with Sidewinder in the Inernational Dragon class.
|
