Wollongong to Sydney Brindabella wins line honours.

by Lisa Ratcliff on 18 Feb 2001 Champagne sailing from the 'gong' was how George Snow described the return leg of the Wollongong weekend of races, which culminated in line honours win for his maxi yacht Brindabella in Sydney Harbour at 1559 hours.

With a 10 knot sou'easter blowing for most of the day, the crew on the Jutson 76 enjoyed a spinnaker run from Flinders Islet, the first mark of the course, all the way to the Royal National Park, and then again from Cronulla to Sydney Heads.

Following Brindabella into Sydney Harbour was the Inglis 50 Wild Thing (Geoff & Pip Lavis), which crossed the finish line at 1648 hours with the Lyons Cawse 46 Vanguard (Dick Cawse), just one minute behind.

Vanguard placed 2nd overall on IMS in Friday night's race to Wollongong and given her strong finish, this champion is likely to notch up another top handicap result.

At this afternoon's position report, the last yacht in the 40-strong fleet, Tenacious (Selwyn Enoch), had completed just over half of the 44 nautical mile course and was not expected in until late this evening.

The fleet began their journey home from Wollongong at 10.30am this morning after a weekend of festivities at the annual Sea Food and Sail Festival in Belmore Basin, Wollongong Harbour.

The weekend's races count towards the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's prestigious Bluewater Championship, with final points coming from the Sydney - Mooloolaba Race starting April 7.

Full results for the Wollongong to Sydney Race will be available from on Monday morning.