Flinders Islet Race at Cruising Yacht Club of Australia
by Di Pearson, CYCA Media 21 Sep 2014 18:24 BST
21 September 2014
Short sharp race goes to Patrice
Tony Kirby's Patrice has provisionally won the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's Flinders Islet Race, but due to an error in her rating certificate, it is believed a revised certificate, due from the UK on Tuesday, will leave her outside the top placings, paving the way for Victorian yacht, Shogun V.
With Patrice likely to be out of the picture, Shogun V, a TP52 owned by Rob Hanna, is sitting pretty to take the honours for Race 2 of the CYCA's Blue Water Pointscore Series, with Sam Haynes' Rogers 46, Celestial and Darryl Hodgkinson's Cookson 50 Victoire likely to claim second and third overall respectively. Just over eight minutes separated the three on corrected time.
A remarkably close and quick race was enjoyed by all, with the smallest yacht in the fleet, the Hick 35, Luna Sea (James Cameron), crossing the Rushcutters Bay finish line a whisker past 1.00am this morning.
Andrew Wenham's Southern Excellence took line honours at 18.08.31 hours on Saturday, in the time of 8 hours 8 minutes 31 seconds, missing the record of 7 hours 48 minutes 44 seconds set by Loki in 2010 by under one hour. Matt Allen's Ichi Ban followed 18 minutes later, with Shogun V next on line, some 32 minutes behind her.
A spectacular spinnaker start to the 92 nautical mile race came courtesy of a lovely 12 knot southerly that drove the 27 starters quickly out of Sydney Heads from the Point Piper start line. PMA Yeah Baby (Louis Ryckmans) had an 'oh no baby' moment, crossing the start early, which translated to a re-start for the Welbourn 50. Ryckmans put it behind him to finish eighth overall.
At 16.05 hours on Saturday local time, six hours into the race, Patrice's navigator, Richard Grimes reported the Ker 46 was sailing under an A4, used for heavy air running. With owner Tony Kirby at the helm, they were clocking up speeds of 15-16 knots in 17 knots gusting to 20 from the south/south-east.
"We rounded Flinders about five minutes ago, and if the wind holds in, we'll make it back to the Rushcutters Bay finish in three hours – we have 45 miles to go," he estimated at the time. "But if the wind drops out, it will be more like 8-10 o'clock," he added. The navigator was close, as Patrice finished at 7.42pm.
Southern Excellence, Andrew Wenham's Jones 70, was first around the islet, followed by the yacht's former owner, Matt Allen and his latest Ichi Ban, a Carkeek 60. Following them were Shogun V, Victoire, Balance, Patrice and then Celestial.
Sitting offshore from Port Kembla on the NSW South Coast, Flinders Islet (otherwise known as Toothbrush Island) is part of the Five islands Nature Reserve, originally dedicated as a Fauna Reserve in 1960. It is considered significant for its biological and Aboriginal heritage values and is managed by the NSW National parks and Wildlife Service.
At 18.30hrs, Grimes reported back from Patrice: "We're just passing Botany Bay at pretty much the same speed in the same conditions, although the wind has dropped a little to a steady 15-17 knots and we're doing around 12 knots of boat speed. It's really nice spinnaker sailing under clear skies. It's quite cold, but our owner is due to make coffee for us shortly..."
While Shogun V looks to top the podium under IRC for the 54th Ron Robertson Memorial Trophy, 2013 Rolex Sydney Hobart winner, Victoire, has scored the ORCi overall win from 2014 Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Race winner, Celestial, with Shogun V third.
In PHS, the overall order was Southern Excellence from Celestial and the Ker 40, St George Midnight Rambler, the clean winner of the CYCA Trophy - Rating Series last December.
The next event of the Blue Water Pointscore Series will be a 200 nautical mile race to start on October 3. The six race series culminates with the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
Full provisional results, which will be updated on receipt of Patrice's new rating certificate on Tuesday, can be found at the CYCA website at: www.cyca.com.au/sysfile/downloads/2015_summer/14_15_Summer/series.htm