OLD SALT CHASES TELSTRA CUP TITLE.

by Ian Grant on 16 Dec 2000 Veteran Victorian ocean racing sailor Lou Abrahams a dual winner of the Sydney Hobart race has made a bold late charge to win the Telstra Cup Sydney 38 class championship.

Abrahams despite having limited time at the helm of his recently launched sloop Another Challenge has entered into a nip-n-tuck 'dog-fight' for the title with the Hog's Breath Australian champion ThE Business, one of the high performance Team Sail yachts from Pittwater.

ThE Business skippered by Vaughan Stibbard heads the championship race by the narrow margin of two penalty points or two places clear of Another Challenge with the Michael Jones skippered Obsession another 11 points away third.

Both Stibbard and Abrahams finished today's two windward leeward races sailed in ideal conditions with identical 1-2 scores which sets the stage for another interesting duel in the longer passage race on the Tasman Sea tomorrow.

This will be one of the highlights in the final day of the Telstra Cup championship regatta were the relatively new Sydney 38 One-Design class have performed strongly in a mixed range of wind and sea conditions.

The crew of Th E Business who have had the advantage of longer class racing experience will have their hands full as the old master mounts his challenge to win the class 'Battle Flag' by winning the championship.

Both crews are well clear of any threat from Obsession and this sets the stage for the Another Challege crew to become the aggressor, they win not only have to win the final but also apply the tactical pressure .to push Th E Business back in the pack beyond 4th place.

Abrahams a relentless tactician who his well supported by a very experienced crew have come from behind before and this puts some pressure on Stibbard's crew to make sure they sail safe in what promises to be a close boat on boat race for the title.

Progressive Points After six races (1Discard): Th E Business (Vaughan Stibbard,NSW) 275 pts 1, Another Challenge (Lou Abrahams,Vic) 273pts 2, Obsession (Michael Jones,NSW) 262pts 3, The Big Picture (Harry Hertzberg,Vic) 262pts 4, Blowfly (Barry Moore,NSW) 260pts 5, 38 Degrees South (John Savage,Vic) 255pts 6, doctorglobal.com (Craig Malouf / Matt Wenke,NSW) 252pts 7.