2014 Sydney Harbour Regatta at Middle Harbour Yacht Club - Overall
by Di Pearson, MHYC media 9 Mar 2014 10:12 GMT
8-9 March 2014
Middle Harbour Yacht Club's Sydney Harbour Regatta wrapped up on Sydney Harbour today, and as usual, winners were grinners while the rest did the congratulating; but all concurred it was another successful end to the summer/autumn season as they look forward to celebrating the 10th anniversary edition next year.
The Club too, is looking forward to the 10th anniversary in 2015. Commodore, John McCuaig, said today: "It's a great regatta; the competitors really enjoy themselves. The racing is exciting; you have to be on your mettle the whole time, especially in some of the one-design classes like the Melges and Adams 10.
"The Sydney Harbour Regatta is the only opportunity to pull people from all over the Harbour and interstate together in Sydney. We hope the 10th anniversary will prove popular and we get a big role up. It's a very positive experience and we're looking forward to continuing it."
Competitors enjoyed another picture-perfect day on the Harbour, and although sea breezes were light, they were enough to propel the fleets in each of the 26 classes/divisions.
Hamish Jarrett emphatically wrapped up the Yngling class, claiming five wins from six races and a second place with Miss Pibb. Triple Olympian Karyn Gojnich was his nearest rival. Sailing Evie to a win in Race 2, she finished eight points behind Jarrett.
Mitch Miller repeated his performance of last year, dominating the Adams 10 class from Day 1. He finished nine points ahead of closest contender, Ben Nossiter and his Sirius, counting four wins from six races in his tally. Nossiter, who beat Miller by one place at the recent nationals, won the opening and penultimate races to round out his series.
Despite some highbrow crew, Miller, from Neutral Bay, attributed his win to trimmer Pete 'Technics' Wilson. "We couldn't have done it without him," Miller stated.
"We sailed in a shifty nor' easter, with the fleet favouring both sides of the course with various outcomes, and as always in the Adams 10, racing was exceptionally close," Miller said.
Local Middle Harbour sailor, Rob Reynolds kept his winning momentum from yesterday going to claim victory on the windward/leeward courses in the Premier IRC Division 1 class with Exile. Reynolds recently installed a new shorter mast and square top main on his yacht and it paid dividends today in the light airs off Sydney Heads.
Racing against some of the biggest names in sailing, Reynolds took his DK46 to a two point victory over 2008 Rolex Sydney Hobart winner, Quest (Bob Steel). Matt Allen's new Carkeek 60, Ichi Ban was third, 11 points behind the leader.
In Division 2, Paul 'comeback king' Clitheroe's win in Race 5 enabled him to climb over the top of Nigel Smyth's Tomato, which slipped back to third overall in the final analysis. In second place, five points behind the 'Money Man's' Balance, was local Phil Dash with his Just a Dash.
"A great weekend of sail. Light, but beautiful conditions," Clitheroe said. "It was nice playing with the other little fat boats," Clitheroe added of the Beneteaus, of which his is a 45.
"Yesterday got up to 12 knots, today we saw a couple of gusts of 12, but it was really light. The race committee did a great job getting all six races in at this great regatta – we're looking forward to next year," he added.
"The racing was so close – seconds between us in most of the races in both IRC and ORCi – shows you how good the handicapping is."
Although Warwick Rooklyn won the Melges 24 class for the last two years, this year's win did not come as easily. The Eastern Suburbs sailed claimed three victories from six races to overcome several challenges from the vastly improved Heath Townsend and Kaito ahead of their national championships next week.
Townsend, from Western Australia, sailed consistently throughout to finish three points adrift of his nemesis. The nationals should prove interesting.
Completely undefeated last year, Greg Prescott and his 2Unlimited crew nearly came unstuck this weekend when Chris Way, new to the class last year, threw every trick in his repertoire at the Tasmanian crew, leading the series going into the final three races today. However, Prescott fought back, and a win and second place ensured victory on a countback. Look out come the nationals.
It was a count back situation in the Super 30's too, with Justin Graham's Jet coming out on top and Matt Wilkinson's Out of Sight settling for second place after the two fought for supremecy over six races.
Andrew Waugh's Zippier had the goods in the Sports Boats SMS category, scoring a six and a half point victory over Peter Ray's Barely Legal, while Numero Uno (Scott Lawson) won the Sports Boats (VX) from Andrew York's Tachyon by just half a point.
In the former Olympic Dragon class, high profile yachtsman, Marcus Blackmore and Hooligan crew came home the winner from James Hawkins and Andrew Howe's Ascalon in the six race series held over the weekend. Blackmore's performance is more polished since he contested the Dragon Worlds in Weymouth last year and he won four races for a five point victory.
Gordon Hinds and crew sailed Grand V to victory in the Etchells. As in most cases this weekend, it was a close series with Hinds winning by three and a half points over Andrew Patterson's Plan A.
In all there were 170 entries and many other classes and divisions raced at the Sydney Harbour Regatta and full results (provisional pending any protests) and all information can be found at www.shr.mhyc.com.au.