Melbourne Midwinter Team Racing at Albert Park Yacht Clu

Melbourne Midwinters team racing © Patrick Oliver

Melbourne Midwinters team racing © Patrick Oliver

Melbourne Midwinters team racing © Patrick Oliver

Inverted & invidious Imperial Poona YC win

Some said the weather was perfect, others harked back to last year's 37 knots but all competitors and organisers thoroughly enjoyed the Melbourne Midwinters held on Saturday, 23rd July by Albert Park Yacht Club. Those Southern Hemisphere Imperial Thinkers of the Imperial Poona Yacht Club were the clear winners followed by Black Rock Yacht Club in second and Bondi Ladies in third.

Five teams arrived at Albert Park on a misty Saturday morning. Soon the teams set about trying to find a way into the Boatshed to rig the boats. After much scratching of foreheads somebody asked to unlock the gates and lo and behold the gates were opened and the racing could commence. Chris Davey PRO was faced with several difficulties in the morning session firstly, the auto-hooter was still in the post, and secondly the breeze was around 2-3 knots. Setting a short course the racing got under way in the first round robin. Racing proved close in both the races and being near the shore. The latter allowing for the heckling of the umpires. The highlight of the first round was Chris Kameen receiving a rule 42 penalty, doing his turns, and miraculously still being ahead of the boat behind. At the end of the first round Imperial Poona were ahead of Black Rock YC followed by Bondi Ladies, St Michael's and Monash Uni all tied on 1 win respectively.

In honour of Myles na gCopaleen lunch was taken at a convienient time. The galley at APYC lived up to its enviable reputation for the finest luncheon in Victoria. The afternoon sailing session was held in slightly more breeze of 3-5 knots allowing for some sitting on the side and fewer R42 penalties. Interestingly, the increased breeze caused a bout of protesting to break out between some of the teams much to the consternation of the umpires who had been promised a quiet day.

The second round was similar to the first. Again, Imperial Poona were showing that old age and a late night watching Le Tour were not a bar to a clean sweep. Poona came close to their only defeat against the pesky students of Monash but the students were unable to hold their 2, 3, 5 on the last leg agains the wily old Poona dogs. Black Rock under the captaincy of Jackie Gurr had the hex on all teams bar Poona. Flashes of brilliance were causing Bondi Ladies with to lose winnable races, whilst St Michael's and Monash were fighting it out for the minor places.

At the end of the round, with 20 races completed, the Race Committee used some Imperial thinking to declare the regatta over at 3.30pm. Pressure was applied to have a finals series but this was manfully resisted on count of the ever dwindling supplies of APYC mulled win. This left Imperial Poona in first place on 8 wins followed by Blackrock in second on 6 wins. A short round robin for 2nd to 4th was held with Blackrock still coming out on top.

A prize giving was held with Chris Kameen of Imperial Poona being presented with the commemorative fruit platter. Chris thanked APYC, the umpires, the scorer, the Boatshed, and all the other helpers for organising another excellent regatta on the world class venue at Albert Park Lake. He went on to thank his team of Liz Kameen, Paddy Oliver, Diane Nelson, Gray Pritchett, and Tim Mercer on the occasion of Imperial Poona's break through Southern Hemisphere victory. He also thanked all the other teams for showing great spirit on the day and for those that had travelled from Sydney and Brisbane to join in the fun.

In true team racing style the day ended with an excellent curry and a bit of disco dancing. Allegdely the Bondi Ladies won the apres-sail. Hats off to Jemina Hardman, Ali Sutherland, Helen Merrick (nee Kerr) and Kate Sutton (nee Romer) the Scorer.

2012 will see the Midwinters move to the first weekend in August.

Overall Results:

1st Imperial Poona YC - 8 wins
2nd Black Rock YC - 6 wins
3rd Bondi Ladies YS - 3 wins
4th St Michael's - 2 wins
5th Monash Uni - 1 win