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Prince Philip Cup for International Dragon Class
By Peter Campbell
Gordon Ingate, nearing 82 years of age, became the oldest skipper ever to become an Australian yachting champion when he was declared winner of the 2008 Prince Philip Cup for the International Dragon one-design class in Hobart on Sunday.
The victory, on the Derwent River, climaxes a remarkable career in sailing spanning some 70 years, including 58 years sailing in the classic Dragons, a former Olympic class.
Ingate, a member of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, has represented Australia in the Admiral’s Cup, the America’s Cup, the Olympic Games, World Championships in Dragons and International 5.5 metre class yachts and skippered his ocean racing yacht Caprice of Huon to a luckless second overall in the 1972 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
The Royal Yacht of Tasmania declared Whim, helmed by Ingate and crewed by Tasmanians Nick Rogers and Simon Burrows, as the 2008 Prince Philip Cup champion after being forced to abandon Sunday’s seventh and final race because of galeforce north-westerly winds sweeping the Derwent,
Race officials waited until 1300 hours before abandoning racing, with the northerly wind averaging 35 to 40 knots on the river, squalls gusting to 65 knots.
Despite 58 years of competing in the Dragon class, this is the first Prince Philip Cup win for Ingate although he tied for first with fellow RSYS member (and later Commodore) Bill Fesq in 1956, being relegated to second place on a countback of placings.
However, it was the ninth Prince Philip Cup win for Nick Rogers, also a former Dragon class world champion, and the second for Simon Burrows.
Ingate said that Rogers and Burrows had played a key role in his victory. “I’ve been blessed with two very good Tasmanian crew….they have been excellent crew and I pay them a lot of respect because they have put me up where we are,” the octogenarian skipper said. “We came together as a good championship crew should and got the right results.
“It was great to come to Hobart – my sixth time sailing on the Derwent – and I enjoyed the variety of conditions,” he added.
Whim is Ingate’s ‘new’ second-hand Petticrow Dragon. “Excellent boats,” he described them, urging Australians to look to follow suit in the lead-up to the world championships in Melbourne in 2011. “I was also very pleased with my Ullman sails, the only boat with them in the Prince Philip Cup.”
Second place in the 2008 Prince Philip Cup has gone to another Sydney crew, Ian McCrossin, Martin Burke and Rick Hall, sailing Riga, third to the Tasmanian boat Kirribilli II, sailed by Andrew Crisp, David Graney and John Gardiner. Second place had to be decided on a countback after both boats scored equal points.
The top 10 placegetters in the 2008 Prince Philip Cup, announced this afternoon at The Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, were:
- Whim (Gordon Ingate, NSW) 19.7 points
- Riga (Ian McCrossin/Martin Burke, NSW) 24.7
- Kirribilli II (Andrew Crisp, Tas) 24.7
- Leander (Hugh Wardrop, Tas) 37.7
- Hotspur (Ken Stevenson, WA) 46.7
- Sassafrass (Sandy Anderson, WA) 46.7
- Aquila (Jock Young, Tas) 48.4
- Mystere (Wayne Wagg, Tas) 56.4
- Amazing Grace (Tony Mooney/Charles Stanton, Tas) 69.0
- Gilt Dragon II (Ian Malley, WA) 76
- by Peter Campbell
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