11th July 2009
By Peter Campbell
Photo by John Jeremy
One could draw the analogy of scoring a maiden Ashes test match century with Richard Hammond’s victory in Division 1 of the RSYS Winter Series on Saturday.
Richard probably felt just as exhilarated as Haddin and North when he steered his new International Etchells Alchemist to victory in Division 1.
It was his first race as an owner/skipper and the first with his new boat after several seasons crewing on QRS in the Sydney Etchells fleet.
The light winds on Saturday suited Alchemist to a tee, finishing third across the line and scoring a comfortable 1 minute 35 second win on corrected time, despite being given a stiff handicap.
As a casual entry, Alchemist won from John Waring’s Alouette and Andrew Wenham’s Inch by Winch with pointscore leader Hell Razor (Ian MacDiarmid) placing 8th on corrected time.
In Division 2, Tom Cehak’s fast Farr 727 Therapy finished second across the line and first on handicap, winning by a narrow 14 seconds from Kerstin II (John Bowman/Ken Chase/Julius Goldie), third place going to Kupu Gila (John Anstey).
The Non-Spinnaker division saw a win for Gary Connery’s Enigma ahead of Azzura (Michael Barton) and Gecko (Stephen Face).
Two more races remain to be sailed in another successful RSYS Winter Series
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