29th September 2008
By Peter Campbell
Carl Ryves and Dick Sargeant, who crewed together in the Flying Dutchman class at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, teamed up again on Saturday to win the International Dragon class race in the third day of competition in the RSYS’s summer pointscore.
Sailing Carl’s Sidewinder (the same name as their FD of 40 years ago), the two former Olympians scored a hard-fought 34 second win from Abracadaba (David Seaton) with Tatsu (Wolf Breit) only three seconds astern in third place.
It was a significant win for Ryves, who has returned to sailing after missing two seasons during the long illness of his late wife Alison, who died last year.
“The boat had been sitting on a trailer in the street for almost two years but near the end of winter the Dragon Class Association organised an introductory day for potential Dragon sailors on the Harbour,” Ryves said today.
Photo of Carl Ryves and Dick Sargeant competing in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, sailing on Apapulco Bay.
“Sarg and I took out five or six people and enjoyed the day so much, we decided to return to racing – and the win on Saturday was really something after sailing together on and off for 40 years,” he added.
Dick Sargeant, along with ‘Pod’ O’Donnell and skipper Bill Northam in the 5.5 metre class yacht Barrenjoey, won Australia’s first gold medal in sailing at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
For the Mexico City Olympics, Sargeant teamed up with Carl Ryves in the high performance Flying Dutchman class. They finished 4th overall, just .7 point out of a medal, in fact, the closest an Australian crew ever came to winning a medal in the FDs.
Now, four decades on, the pair are continuing their long sailing association with impressive results in the lead-up to the prestigious Prince Philip Cup which the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron will host in early January 2009.
In four races so far this season, Sidewinder has a scorecard of 2-2-3-1, although leading yacht so far is Abracadra which David Seaton has so far steered to three wins in the mini regatta and a second on Saturday.
Ryves is sailing the Dragon with a crew of four – himself, Sargeant, former Laser sailor Kevin Burnham, and enthusiastic sailing newcomer Elizabeth Clayton.
“We are finding that four-up is giving us a good weight combination..the Dragon goes better with a bit of weight on board,” Ryves explained. “I just steer; Sarg calls all the shots…tactics and trim.”
The last time the Prince Philip Cup was sailed on Sydney Harbour Ryves and Sargeant and their then third crew member finished equal first on points with Tasmanian Nick Rogers but lost on a countback. It was just a matter of one second in the last race,” Ryves recalled
In Division 1, Geoff & Debbie Davidson have got off to a flying in Division 1 sailing their 11m Beneteau Jackie Clare, notching up a 4th and two successive wins since the Squadron season got under way.
Revelling in the freshening nor’easter last Saturday, Jackie Clare crossed in the finish line in fifth place to take first place on corrected time by 1 minute 07 seconds from race one winner Honeysuckle (Ray Harris), which beat Ian MacDiarmid’s Hell Razor by just two seconds.
Geoff Davidson, recently elected Senior Vice President of Yachting NSW, is a very active member of the Squadron, serving on the Sailing Committee, while he and Debbie are regular competitors in Friday evening Twilights as well as the Saturday pointscores.
A fleet of near 80 boats enjoyed excellent sailing conditions on Saturday, a warm and sunny day with the Nor’easter kicking in to 16-18 knots during mid-afternoon.
Results were close in several divisions, with alouette (John & Judy Winning) winning Division 2 by 15 seconds on corrected time for Acturus II (Peter Davenport), Therapy (Tom Cehak) winning line and handicap honours in Division 4, taking handicap by 15 seconds from Clara Sayers (Don Taylor).
In Division 3, Norn (Robert Albert) and Wallop (Bryan Collis and Stephen Wall) raced around the course together, Wallop crossing the line first but Norn taking handicap honours. However, the race is subject to protest because the Steel Point mark went missing.
Saturday was the second race in the World Championship qualifying series for International Etchells class, with a fleet of 24 starters, all keen to fill one of the expected ten positions for the Sydney Fleet in the Worlds in Melbourne next March.
Jervis Tilly sailed Bushfire to a comfortable 1 min 06 seconds win from Fathom (Rupert Henry), with Fifteen (David Clark & Andrew Smith) 26 seconds further astern.
After two races in the World Qualifying Series, the top ten boats are Fifteen, Fathom, Bushfire, dot, North Sydney Station, Vincero, Etch and Holy Grael.
In the Yngling class, Chris Harper maintained his consistent sailing with his new boat Shining Star, his scorecard reading 1-2-2 for a handy points lead early in the season. Saturday’s winner was Black Adder (Gary Pearce).
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