Pantaenius Commodore's Cup at Sail Port Stephens - Overall
by Lisa Ratcliff/SPS media 16 Apr 2014 10:53 BST
11-16 April 2014
Sail Port Stephens has wrapped up for another year with the final Pantaenius Commodore's Cup race on the bay. Variable southerly winds and occasional showers felt all too familiar for the 400 sailors tying up their three day cruising series.
Final overall results have given Len Payne's Lidgard 10.6 Kerinda the Commodore's Cup division 2 victory for the second time in three years. An uncanny juxtaposition is Payne heading home this afternoon to his drought affected farm near Tamworth to organise hay for his hungry cattle and be there for calving.
Sail Port Stephens has had rain on and off for the last five days, irony that isn't lost on the farmer who spends midweek in the country and weekends at Lake Macquarie where he races out of the Royal Motor Yacht Club Toronto.
"I'm missing tonight's trophy presentation driving to dusty dry from pouring rain," Payne said. On the regatta he commented, "It was very well organised. The winds were fickle but interesting with some good strong breezes at times. We enjoyed it immensely. We all worked together and sailed the boat well." He paid tribute to his tactician of a few seasons Chris Davidson, and the rest of his Toronto based crew.
Kerinda contested both the Pantaenius Port Stephens Trophy and Commodore's Cup, that's racing every day for six days. "You don't get tired when you are doing something you enjoy," Payne reminded.
He is the original owner of Kerinda, which he launched 1997. "Since then I've put in a carbon mast and square top main, to get it as modern as we can. It was built as a racer/cruiser but we stripped all the comforts out."
Kerinda took out the Commodore's Cup division 2 top honours by four points over Dennis Cooper's Sydney 36Cr Amante and Geoff Dilworth's Dufour 34, Even Finer in third.
Phil Grove's Sydney 39Cr Huntress from Sydney mounted a successful defence, scoring back-to-back Commodore's Cup division 1 wins this year and last. Two points over three races separated Huntress from the Bryony Gregory skippered Beneteau F40 Breakthrough crewed by nine Eastsail students and an instructor. Third was Tom Woods' Farr 36Od Toy Story from Lake Macquarie.
Huntress' crew also signed up for all six days of competition and like many found the last few days variable and challenging. "Today we had gusts of 21 knots down to 3 knots at times. There was a lot of luck involved," said the triumphant skipper. Tactician Ben Lockyer worked diligently to keep Huntress in motion and 15 year-old Andrew Yu concentrated as hard to keep the spinnaker trimmed for maximum speed.
This was Gregory's first full regatta as skipper and though disappointed to get so close to the pointscore leader she enjoyed watching the teamwork come together on Breakthrough. "Our learning curve was steep and we ironed out any problems in the Trophy series," she said. "In the Commodore's Cup we really came together and everyone had a lot more confidence in their job.
"We were keeping a close eye on Huntress today. When it went light they pulled away from us. There wasn't much we could do."
Tonight the end of regatta trophy presentation will be held at West Diggers Nelson Bay, a Sail Port Stephens event supporter.
For the more than 600 sailors across 90 plus boats who contested the seventh edition of Sail Port Stephens the event offered the usual variety of winds and scenic courses and ashore Nelson Bay and its surrounds catered superbly for the influx of visitors and their families.
Commodore of the Corlette Point Sailing Association, Dom Grundy, is delighted to announce next year's Sail Port Stephens dates, Monday April 13 to Sunday April 19, 2015. This is the second week of the NSW school holidays and after Easter.
The popular series will return to its traditional format of the Pantaenius Commodore's Cup for the first three days, layday for all crews on the Thursday and the IRC state championship and Port Stephens Trophy Friday 17 to Sunday April 19.
Feeder races on Saturday April 11 from Pittwater and Sunday April 12 from Newcastle will deliver crews who want to race to the annual event.
Organisers once again recommend competitors book marina berths and accommodation well in advance as it's a busy time of year for Nelson Bay and the nearby seaside towns.
Claims manager Adam Brown from the principal regatta sponsor Pantaenius said this morning, "We ramped up last year's commitment this year, and we'll be back again next year. We enjoy Sail Port Stephens and the focus on both cruising and racing fleets. Port Stephens is a terrific location in close proximity to Sydney and this year's there's a good tie in with Newcastle and the Audi IRC Australian Championship.
"Pantaenius is doing well in the market place and our points of difference are being met with great enthusiasm," Brown added.
Sail Port Stephens is proudly supported by the NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW.
Full results can be found here.
sailportstephens.com.au