Corinthian Doors Peppers Anchorage Farr 40 Regatta - Day 2

Estate Master hoisting at the top mark on day two of the Corinthian Doors Peppers Anchorage Farr 40 Regatta © Sam Crichton

Transfusion leading the fleet across the finish line on day two of the Corinthian Doors Peppers Anchorage Farr 40 Regatta © Sam Crichton

Transfusion takes the lead at Corinthian Doors Peppers Anchorage F40 Regatta

Conditions at Port Stephens on the central coast of New South Wales improved overnight and the seven boat Farr 40 fleet sailed four races in a fluctuating breeze that reached 20 knots. For the first two races of the day the southerly breeze provided some terrific racing conditions as the fleet surfed the waters just north of Cabbage Tree Island.

Overnight the first five places were separated by three points so every team meant business today. Lisa and Martin Hill’s Estate Master swapped places with Brett Neill’s White Cloud on the second up wind leg and held them out to take the first win of the day. Neill crossed the line with Matt Allen’s Ichi Ban on his tail. “The competition is tight and still really open after two days on a even playing field. It was great to see Transfusion, White Cloud and Impi have a good day today. I’m really enjoying the competition, that’s what invigorates you”, commented Hill.

Race five and Guido Belgiorno-Nettis’s Transfusion hit the line with pace and shot to the lead of the fleet extending on each leg. Sailing on Transfusion is brother - sister combination Tom and Alana Slingsby from Gosford and the Turner brothers, Daniel and Joe, from the Central coast of New South Wales. All four crew members have sailed dinghies with the Slingsby’s both racing Lasers. “We are having a fantastic time in this fleet. We had a very fortunate day except for the first race when we had issues with our spinnaker gear. We have a young crew who we have been working with and building over the years. Tom Slingsby did a great job today in very shifty conditions”, said Belgiorno-Nettis after being awarded boat of the day.

Transfusion recovered from a late start in race six to pull back most of the fleet and cross the finish line in second place behind Allen’s Ichi Ban. The third leg of this race proved to be make or break of this race. Transfusion made their big gain on this leg as did White Cloud who finished in fourth.

The final race for the day and Transfusion again had a well timed start and they quickly hit the lead of the fleet. Transfusion and White Cloud tacked over to the right side of the course for the first upwind leg which was to end up putting these two teams out in front and White Cloud finished up in second and Marcus Blackmore’s Hooligan rounded the top three. Ivan Resnekov’s Impi had a fantastic race to move up through the fleet from sixth to cross the line in fourth. “We’re very pleased at how we went today, we have a team made up of a lot of skiff sailors who worked well together today, remarked Resnokov.

Racing wraps up tomorrow at Port Stephens with the weather forecast predicting a west nor’west breeze of up to 13 knots then tending east, nor’east in the afternoon reaching 15 knots.

Provisional Results after Day 2: