J/133 Euphoria Offshore report from Down Under
by Tony Coleman 17 Apr 2022 21:49 BST
J/133 Euphoria - Combined Clubs Inshore Series hosted by RSYS © Marg Fraser-Martin
Tony Coleman's J/133 Euphoria has been enjoying one of their best sailing seasons over the past year. Based "down under" in the iconic Sydney Harbour, Euphoria's team has won or placed on the podium in every series in which she has competed. Not bad for an 18-year-old boat!
According to Tony, "obviously, none of this would have been achieved without the skillful and dedicated efforts of Euphoria's wonderful crew who have really surpassed themselves this year! So far, here's what we managed to accomplish over twelve months:
- Won the 5 race Combined Sydney Clubs Summer Series for No 1 Division for 2021/22
- Won the 16 race Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron (RSYS) Main Saturday Series for No 1 Division for 2021/22 to win the prestigious "Boomerang" Trophy.
- Won the 8 race RSYS Summer Saturday Series for No 1 Division (for races post-Christmas 2021)
- Won the Australia Day Regatta No 1 Division on Sydney Harbour on 26 Jan 2022
- Won the 13 race Combined Clubs Winter Series No 1 Division for 2021.
- Placed 2nd in the 25 race RSYS / RPEYC Wednesday Series for 2021/22 in Division 1S.
These results have been achieved over a wide range of wind and sea conditions on Sydney Harbour (from near calms to 35-40 knot winds and 4-5 meter swells across the entrance to Sydney Harbour on a couple of occasions), sailing against a diverse range of large fast yachts from 35 to 60 feet LOA including Farr 40s, X-Yachts and TP52s.
The results were predominantly achieved under a local performance handicap system where the handicap increases with good results, so continuous improvement is required to sustain series wins. As a result, Euphoria has finished the current season's series with handicaps some 4% to 5% higher than her IRC handicap of 1.111 but has still been winning some recent races.
Euphoria will be off to sail the Hamilton Island Race Week in Queensland again in August this year (about 1,000 nautical miles north of Sydney) where we will attempt to add to her previous divisional wins at HIRW in 2011 and 2017 in the first HIRW since the covid pandemic began!"