STRATHFIELD OCEAN RACE TROPHY WIN TO XENA

by Ian Grant on 4 Jan 2001 Sean Langman's open 60 Xena proved she was more than a one-way boat when the high performance sloop clinched line honors in the 226n/ml Pittwater to Coffs Harbor race.

Xena overcame a temporary steering problem to virtually lead the race from start to finish finally reaching Coffs Harbor late last night.

Skipper Langman commented the race was unusually tough because it became a dead to wind slog against winds that peaked 27 knots.

Crew spokesperson Kelly Mathews confirmed her skippers remarks 'It was us against the wind and current and the first pure head wind race for me'.

'Just like a marathon hobby horse ride'. She said.

They also overcame steering failure that was fixed by their smallest crewmember Genevieve White.

'She crawled up into this small hole in the back of the boat and fixed the problem in just a few minutes'. Mathews said.

Xena completed the race just after 9-30 last night almost 12 hours outside the 20 hour 56 minute 56 second record and 3 hours ahead of Heaven Can Wait (Warren Johns) while the maxis Marchioness and Infinity 111 match raced for third place which favored Marchioness by 5 minutes 25 seconds.

With the line honors decided interest now focuses on the battle for the outright class results on corrected time.

These results will be confirmed after the 61 yachts still racing completed the course.