15th September 2008
By Peter Campbell
The Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron’s 147th summer sailing season finally got under way on Saturday in exhilarating weather – clear skies, 31 degrees temperature and a blustery nor’east to nor’westerly breeze that at times gusted well over 20 knots.
The Squadron race management team started 17 Etchells and seven Sydney 38s in a three-race Mini Regatta while the Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club’s team despatched 49 boats in the four handicap Divisions, Dragons and Ynglings.
Squadron boats also headed out to sea in their first Short Ocean Pointscore race, the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club’s Lion Island Race, which attacted a fleet of 34 boats from various Sydney clubs.
The hot day drew many pleasure boats out on the Harbour and, along with a couple of container ships and busy ferry traffic, it was a day afloat requiring constant lookouts by racing yachts. Fortunately, there were few incidents.
With Mini Regatta race officer Ian Kingsford-Smith setting excellent windward/leeward courses, the Sydney 38s and Etchells enjoyed three hard-fought races.
The Etchells made a spectacular sight running under spinnaker past Bradley’s Head while the downwind gybing by the Sydney 38 crews was a pleasure to watch.
Winning margins were down to seconds in the Etchells, in race one less than a minute separating the first eight finishers. Humpback (Stephens Barlow & Peter Gardner) won by three seconds from Sun Tzu (Roger Hickman) with just another two seconds to Hooligan (Michael Delaney & John Priddis).
In race two the honours went to NSW champion Bald Eagle (John Dunn & Glen Nattass), with Humpback just eight seconds astern and 25 seconds to North Sydney Station (Ed & Will McCarthy & Michael Coxon).
With a 1-2-2 scorecard, Humpback was the number one boat of the Mini Regatta, finishing second in the third race to North Sydney Station, just 10 seconds between the two boats. Alastair Stone steered QRS into third place, 20 seconds astern.
Margins were almost as close in the Sydney 38s, less than three separating the seven-boat fleet in race one, which saw Gordon Ketelbey steering Zen to a 68 second win from X Cubed (Michael McMahon & Warwick Miller), with Swish (Steve Proud) 15 seconds astern in third place.
Former ocean racing yachtsman Warwick Rooklyn won race two with Ichi Bandit, just 14 seconds ahead of Zen, then five seconds to Calibre (Geoff Bonus)
Zen finished number boat in the Mini Regatta with a 1-2-2 scorecard, finishing second in the final race to Calibre, third place going to Swish in another tight finish.
The big boats in Division 1 were in their element in the freshening NE to NW breeze, with Charles Curran’s 60-footer Sydney powering around the 16.5 nautical mile Manly course at an average speed of 9.5 knots. However, she had to accept second place on corrected time to Ray Harris’ Honeysuckle, third place going to Brian Bergin’s Ellipse.
Other winners on Saturday were Jonathan & Mary Threlfall’s Campeador in Division 2, Bloodhound (A Rodger & M Shaw) in Division 3, Clara Sayers (Don Taylor) in Division 4, Riga (Martin Burke) in the Dragons, with Chris Harper sailing Shining Star to victory in the Yngling class.
So far just on 80 boats have entered for the Squadron’s 2008-2009 summer season with more entries expected as the racing programme continued.
Competition will be particularly keen this summer in the International Etchells, with qualifying races for the 2009 World Championship in Melbourne, and in the International Dragons, with the Squadron conducting the Prince Philip Cup in early January.
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