Hot fleet in Ord Minnett 2000
by Rob Kothe, Sail-world on 24 Nov 2000
IRC competitors Zurich & the new Cookson 12 Occasional Course Language Rachel Nahum
The Ord Minnett Regatta 2000 entry list shows next weekends regatta will be hotly contested.
Of the 75 boats so far entered, almost a third of the fleet are One Design, either Sydney 38's or Farr 40's.
The 15 boat Farr 40 fleet is preparing for the 2001 Admirals Cup selection trials, with World Champion John Calvert Jones seeking to cement his position.
The newer Sydney 38 One Design class burst onto the racing scene with a hotly contested Australian Championship crowned after a match racing final race in the August Nationals at Airlie Beach.
Matt Winkie's boat is so new it is still unnamed a week before the competition. The Blow Fly and the Business are expected to be scrapping hard at the front of the fleet.
The IMS fleet will be particularly competitive with new Loco, the Farr 52 briefly campaigned in the United States as Scream will be testing 1999 Sydney to Hobart Champion Yendys and the evergreen Ausmaid IMS.
The Sydney 40 Davnet, skippered by Jamie McPhail has been performing well in recent weeks and could easily pick up some silver ware however the party might easily be spoiled for everyone by the two Beneteau 40.7's
Le Billet & Farrst Forward.
It will be interesting to following the scoring in the 15 boot IRC fleet as its a mixed bunch with Sean Langmans water ballasted Open 60 and Warwick Shermans new Cookson 12 competing against the classic old Kaufman Koomooloo which almost stole this class at Hamilton Race Week. TK and Stephen Ainsworth have been performing well with the new 49-foot Loki and this class does look wide open.
This regatta originally started as a JOG regatta and it is pleasing to see there are already 15 boats in that division. Rod Skellet's Wild Bull is expected to again do well but there are a number of challengers in this fleet.
The PHS fleet is surprisingly small however with boats as diverse as Marchioness & Katinka vying.
Sail-world.com will be providing detailed coverage of this regatta, with Star Track GPS tracking units on around 10 boats in the fleet. Full results in all division will be posted to its special Ord Minnett regatta pages
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