2019 Geraldton Ocean Classic wrap
by Bernie Kaaks 21 Oct 2019 23:29 BST
Argo – With an experimental youth crew, Argo clinched IRC second place on the race to Geraldton and third on the return a week later © Bernie Kaaks
What a fascinating series faced competitors in South of Perth and Geraldton Yacht Clubs' 51st Geraldton Ocean Classic this year!
Following winds on the first leg to Geraldton were forecast, but wind strength well below expectations left some skippers a little disappointed with their times. The compensation was a beautiful sail in sunny days and bright, moonlit nights.
As expected, Indian skippered by Paul Eldrid in the absence of owner Craig Carter, revelled in the conditions to comfortably claim line honours and won both IRC and PHS handicaps for division 1. The extent of the margin was indicative of a sound race strategy that saw Indian hug the coast north of Jurien Bay for a shoreline lift, while many opponents headed well west and out signal range leaving Indian's strategy blind spotted to many. The podium on the race up saw Indian, Argo and Crush prevail in a wide range of performance yachts with a Carkeek 47, Archambault 40 and a Sunfast 3600 all raced hard in a tight contest.
In what was a surprise to many, the overall PHS winner came from Division 2 - Chris Hind's Sagacious IV in her first race after a long and extensive refit. Sagacious IV (A previous Sydney Hobart and CYC Regatta Winner) will also feature well in the Batavia Coast Regatta on PHS after a solid local performance.
Many metro crew headed back to the city for the week leaving competitors yachts short handed in the notoriously windy city so the Lobster Pot series, run by emerging race officer and legendary double handed sailor David "Dubbo" White attracted five hardy participants who to their credit raced the regatta with a full sail wardrobes and a competitive spirit. The five-race series was completed in full on Champion Bay in Geraldton's normal brisk breezes, resulting in close and enjoyable racing. It was great to see Peter Vlaar's Farrago taking part. Vlaar sailed his Farr 2-tonner to Geraldton and back purely for "a bit of a sail on the ocean". Chris Higham's youth crew on Argo showed what a yacht full of champion dinghy sailors can do when let loose on a 40 footer in 30 knots by comfortably cleaning up the local series.
The overall Batavia Coast Series, which combines both Category 2 passage races and the 5 race local regatta are well within reach of the youth squad. Emerging helmsmen like Chris Charlwood combined with bow work by Lachy Gilham chasing down a Sydney Hobart ambition were joined during the week by SoPYC's junior coach Matt Lingard and other AIS sailors such as Jac Harding and Jacinta Ainsworth with on board coaching by Rees Howell and Alex Landwehr. Paul Eldrid also stepped in with a Onesails sponsorship package for the GYC junior fleet.
In the race to Geraldton Argo's youth crew included three sailors totally new to ocean racing and the race home saw another two crew broken into Category 2 racing including Chris Charlwood having his first night race with plenty of helm time.
The forecast for the scheduled departure for the return race featured a strong wind warning. The race committee wisely decided on a 24-hour postponement, for at the original start time the wind was already blowing over 25 knots, escalating quickly to 30 knots during the day with much stronger knock down gusts. The wait proved well worthwhile. Saturday's breeze came from the north west and the weather system followed the fleet down the coast, giving the fleet the rare opportunity to sail under spinnaker in both directions this year.
Anthony Kirke's Enterprise, a well-prepared Farr 40, made the early running but could not shake off a dogged pair of pursuers in Al Fresco and Weapon of Choice. Tactics decided the eventual outcome. Enterprise sailed the rhumb line early and closed on the shoreline near Lancelin where pressure was better. Al Fresco, a few miles astern, followed a similar path but Weapon of Choice elected to stay well out to sea, sailing high angles and maintaining excellent boat speed. When the time came to return to the coast however, Weapon was badly disadvantaged allowing both her rivals to pass well ahead.
Enterprise completed the return race in a little under 23 hours, which must make the Indian team a little wistful considering the race record stands at around 20 hours and should have been well within her capabilities. Citing crew shortage, Indian cruised back to Fremantle with the race fleet so the opportunity went begging.
It was encouraging to see three boats in division 2, which has languished for some time and will be further strengthened by the imminent arrival of Todd Giraudo's brand new Sunfast 3300. The new Kraken, resplendent with eye catching artwork, is almost ready to go but could not be completed in time to join the Geraldton Ocean Classic. Adding the Edge to this season fleet will see Sunfast become the dominant builder with 4 yachts competing regularly.
Intriguingly the return race's podium of Enterprise, Crush and Argo represent three WA oriented 2019 Sydney-Hobart campaigners with Enterprise returning this year after last year's success and being joined by first timers Crush and Chris Higham who is taking the Corby 49 Abbotts Vamp back to the race with many of his Argo crew on board. The Geraldton Ocean Classic was the qualifying race for both Enterprise and Crush. In other breaking but related news these three yachts will be entering the Southern Cross Teams Racing Series within the Sydney-Hobart fleet as the West Australian Team, making this the first time that WA has had a Southern Cross Team for many years.
The overall combined IRC result came down to just seconds, with David Davenport's Sunfast 3600, Crush edging out Enterprise by just 49 seconds in a total corrected time of more than 58 hours! Less than two and a half hours separated the first six yachts on IRC corrected times - encouraging confirmation that the IRC rating system is working.
Despite the State's ocean racing body's omission of the 50th Geraldton Ocean Classic in 2018 and the return race in the 51st running this year, the race continues to attract a class fleet reflective of its stature as WA's premier offshore Category 2 yacht race. Another strong and competitive fleet this year with yachts qualifying for the 650 mile 2019 Sydney Hobart and the 1450 mile 2020 Fremantle to Bali Category 1 races has continued to demonstrate the race's credentials as one of the most popular and enduring ocean races on the Western seaboard.
Find full results here.