Sydney Harbour Regatta at Middle Harbour Yacht Club - Overall
by Di Pearson, MHYC media 6 Mar 2016 17:31 GMT
5-6 March 2016
The 11th running of the Sydney Harbour Regatta, hosted by Middle Harbour Yacht Club, finished on a high note for the over 170 entries today, when north-easterly winds peaked at 18-20 knots, with some short sharp gusts thrown in to give sailors and officials a wonderful end to Sydney's racing season.
VX-One NSW Championship
Andrew York rose to the occasion with Speedwagon in his defence of the VX-One NSW Championship, winning all six races. York said: "We got the boat up to 19 knots today – that was a lot of fun. It was tricky on the Harbour today, but it was another good day's sail."
York, from a well-known sailing family, continued: "The Sydney Harbour Regatta was great training for the crew for the two Caribbean Regattas we are going to. They are in good shape now." He went on to thank Phil Yeomans, "who did a great job of Race Officer."
Fred Kasparek's Weapon of Choice from the ACT, finished runner-up for the second year running. Damien Widdy's Finger Jam, from Southport in Queensland, was third.
Yngling NSW Championship
Reigning champion Hamish Jarrett sailed Miss Pibb to five wins from six races to reclaim his title. He kept the Evie crew skippered by triple Olympian Karen Gojnich at bay. She threw everything in her armoury at Miss Pibb, even splitting tacks at mark roundings, to no avail. The two cleared out, on the rest, with Evie finishing runner-up as she did last year.
Cavalier 28 NSW Championship
Craig Mitchell and his Centaurius crew were too good, successfully defending the title won at this regatta last year. Centaurius won three of four races, extending in the honking north-easterly today. Behind, a battle took place, but in the end, David Brown's Quattro maintained second place overall, with Greg Purcell's Scuttlebutt holding on to third place.
"We sailed well, but there was a bit of luck involved too," Mitchell conceded. "The quality is good in the fleet, but I've a good crew who have been with me for around 15 years. It makes a difference. Today we made gains in the kite drops and set ups. There is no secret sauce! I'd like to thank the starters – they did a terrific job – it was a fantastic regatta."
Adams 10
Although racing was as tight as it could get in the Adams 10's, one was a cut above the rest. Jim Vaughan sailed Another Dilemma to a resounding 11 point victory over Contentious (Brian Lees), KickNChase (Rob Clarke) and Gogo (Matthew Watt) - on 20 points each.
James wins J70 class
With six straight wins, Tim Ryan's 'James' topped the fleet. Ryan insists the others were progressively getting faster as the event wore on, and it was Brent Lawson's Jester that gave him a best run for his money. Jester finished second overall, nine points behind James. Eight J70's hit the start line and it is hoped we will see 10 on the start line next year.
Melges 20s
Matthew Crawford's Big Booty was the boat to beat, but nobody could, although Scott Lawson's Numero Uno came close at times, it scored six second places for the Numero Two result. This fast and fun boat made its Australian debut at this regatta. Expect to see more after today's racing. In a nor' easter that got rid of all the cobwebs, the Melges were romping.
Super 11s
Adrian Walters' 11 Metre Rob Shaw designed, 'Little Nico', was just too good, even though Chris Way closed the gap with his Melges 32, Easy Tiger III to finish on equal points, but dropped to second on countback. Jonathan Green's Melges 32, Crusader held on to third place, two points behind. Way and Green were also top two within the Melges 32 class.
Super 30s
Noel Leigh-Smith's new Fareast 28r design of the same name has taken out the Super 30 division by nine points from Marco Tapier's Flying Tiger named Flying Brandy and Guy Irwin's Clewless? – the two finishing on equal points in a hard fought series.
X-Yachts
X-Ray, an X-332 (Ray Parrott), finished first overall from the XP-44 Toybox 2 owned by past MHYC Commodore Ian Box, while Shaun Lane's X-41, Patrice Six, finished third overall after four races. All enjoyed the in-house competition.
PHS
Rob Aldis' Joie De Vie sailed over the top of yesterday's top three to finish on top after scoring two bullets today. Larki Missiris' Buildrite/G&R Isuzu moved into second place ahead of yesterday's leader, Mike Gallagher's Galan. Marcus Grimes' High Anxiety won Division 2, while Nygel Smith carried off Division 3 with his 'One'.
PHS Non-Spinnaker
Eighteen yachts too part in two Divisions. Russell Waddy's Allsail Dancing Star won Division 1 from Martyn Coleman's Slac-N-Off, while Ruth Lawrence's Alcamy took out Division 2 from Kevin Gray's Eau De Vie.
Ichi Ban and Nine Dragons clean sweep Sydney Harbour Regatta
Matt Allen's Ichi Ban and Bob Cox's Nine Dragons clean swept Division 1 and 2 respectively at Middle Harbour Yacht Club's 2016 Sydney Harbour Regatta, which ended this afternoon, while Phil Dash did what he is best at, coming from behind to claim Division 3 honours.
Allen and his crew, including sailing master Gordon Maguire, kept up the momentum in conditions they described as tricky to take the series with six straight wins from 2015 Rolex Sydney Hobart winner Balance (Paul Clitheroe) which finished second in every race, and TP52 newcomers Andy Kearnan/Peter Wrigley with Koa, third in every race.
Gordon Maguire said it was an interesting day. "It was quite fickle offshore. It was a light 7-8 knots in the first race, but by the second race it had picked up to 14-15 knots – a classic nor' easter. But about halfway through the third (race), it dropped to 8-10 knots and we had a big shift – a sketchy sort of race," he recalled.
"As a bigger boat, we had a certain amount of control; you get to pick the track. We executed all we wanted to do and had an enjoyable event – it's always a good regatta," he said.
Bob Cox did the same, also stumping up with six straight wins to defeat sister DK46, Khaleesi (Andrew and Pauline Dally), which finished seven points behind with five second places and a third. Gerry Hatton's Matt 12.45, Bushranger, moved up into third overall
Yesterday in Division 3, The Philosopher's Club (Peter Sorensen) had the upper hand over last year's Division 2 winner, Phil Dash's JustADash, but the two were on equal points. As Dash has done before, he came up with the goods when it mattered, to win. Peter McNamara, a recent returnee to sailing with a modified Mumm 36, Magic, took second place from The Philosopher's Club, which finished third on countback.
"It was very tight and extremely close racing," Dash admitted. "Especially with Magic and The Philosopher's Club. Magic got us by five seconds over the line and 18 seconds on corrected time in the first race, that's how close it was."
Dash said it was not so much about winning races, "rather it was about sailing consistently and thinking about the overall pointscore," he said. The other two boats sailed very well, but overall we were the most consistent," said Dash, who praised the race officers on their course. "They set great courses – did a good job all regatta."
Inaugural IRC Inter Club Challenge
Four teams contested the inaugural IRC Inter Club Challenge – two from the host club and two from Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club.
The Middle Harbour Yacht Club team of Nine Dragons, Khaleesi and JustADash were too good and claimed the spoils with 47 points, a winning margin of 27 points over the second placed RPAYC team of Bushranger, Magic and Conspiracy.
Over 170 boats took part in this year's Sydney Harbour Regatta. The official prize presentation will be held at Middle Harbour Yacht Club tomorrow evening.
Prize Presentation and Prizes
All winning yachts will be entered into a prize draw for the major prizes, to be drawn on Monday 7th March:
1st prize – two Sydney to Auckland return tickets, donated by Air New Zealand plus two nights' accommodation
2nd Prize – Voucher for $1000 to be used at Sydney City Marine
3rd Prize – Two tickets to MHYC Vivid Cruise on Sydney Harbour in June 2016 plus a Wine Lover's Pack (six assorted wines)
Divisional winners and placegetters will receive sailing gear from Helly Hansen and wine from Robert Oatley's Vineyards at the official prize presentation.
This evening, following racing, a lucky door prize of $1800 worth of superior Helly Hansen sailing gear was won by MHYC member, Mark McLean (Pindimara).
MHYC thanks: the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Manly Yacht Club, RANSA, Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club, Sydney Amateur Sailing Club and the Sydney Flying Squadron for their continuing support.
Thanks also to sponsors Helly Hansen, Trina Solar, Sydney City Marine, Robert Oatley Vineyards, Rocks Brewing, Air New Zealand and Travelview Cruiseview for their continued support of the Sydney Harbour Regatta.
For all information on the Sydney Harbour Regatta go to: www.shr.mhyc.com.au