Telstra Sydney to Hobart - Divisional Placings

Papua New Guinea women skipper’s unique performance in 1999 Telstra Sydney to Hobart

Liz Wardley, the youngest skipper in this year’s Telstra Sydney to Hobart yacht race, has taken her charge Philllip’s Foote to provisional first place in IMS Division C, setting two new benchmarks for Australia’s best-known bluewater classic.

At 20, Liz is a veteran racer from the Royal Papua Yacht Club in Port Moresby, and the Division win is a first for Papua New Guinea and for a female skipper.

"That’s terrific. We had a great race and everyone worked really hard so this is a really pleasing result," Liz said today.

The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia today released provisional placings for the 55th event, even though some competitors remain at sea. Results are still provisional until the last yacht finishes. There is also no time limit to the event.

At 1600 hours, 10 yachts were still racing, 39 yachts had finished and 30 have retired. Nine yachts are likely to be sailing into Hobart on January 1 and 2.

With a background in catamaran competition and more recently in major ocean-going events, Liz Wardley first sailed for Hobart in 1997 aboard Boomaroo, and purchased the yacht Phillip’s Foote to race in 1998, a race she did not complete.

She has spent the past 3-4 months preparing for this campaign, and said a highlight of this race was the great run in covering 245 miles in the first 24 hours.

"We’ll definitely be back to do it again next year," she said.

Phillip’s Foote, an Elliott 36, has provisionally won the division from Alien, a Lidgard 35, skippered by Michael Welsh, from Sandringham Yacht Club in Victoria, and the Tasmanian yacht, Grand Chancellor, a Northshore 38 from the Derwent Sailing Squadron. Grand Chancellor is not expected finish until the early hours of tomorrow.

Tasmanian skipper, Craig King, has taken IMS Division B handicap honours in only his third Telstra Sydney to Hobart Race with a former race winner, Interum, the ex-Cuckoos Nest which won in 1993.

King, from the Bellerive Yacht Club on Hobart’s eastern shore, beat another Tasmanian yacht Valheru (Anthony Lyall), a rival on the Derwent to Interum in weekend sailing, and one of two New Zealand entries in the race, EZ Street (Bruce Lund).

The first and second handicap placings are in reverse order to their positions over the line in this year’s record-breaking, and subsequently gruelling, event. Galeforce southerlies which began on Tuesday have claimed 30 retirements and will leave entries still battling headwinds off Tasmania’s east coast into the New Year.

It was in similar stormy conditions that Interum, a 12-metre Lyons sailing as Cuckoo’s Nest, was second over the line in 1993 and announced as overall winner that year. She has since raced to Hobart as Rapscallion.

Built in 1993 specifically for the Hobart race, she is especially suited to reaching and running, the sort of conditions that sped the fleet down the Australian East Coast during the first 36 hours of the race.

"We’ve got a two-year campaign planned, so we’ll be back next year," he said.

For Valheru’s owner/skipper Anthony Lyall, this year’s second placing is an improvement on his divisional third in last year’s race, while EZ Street’s third placing this year will be good reward for the Timaru Yacht Club entry from New Zealand’s South Island.

The only two Western Australian entries in the 1999 Telstra Sydney to Hobart Race Red Jacket and Impulse have recorded outstanding results, each provisionally winning their respective handicap divisions in the tough 630 nautical mile race.

According to the skipper of Red Jacket, Ron Lally, the last time a Western Australian entry won its division was in 1975 when Peter Packer’s 40-footer Rampage finished first overall and first in division.

The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia today confirmed Red Jacket from Hilary’s Yacht Club as the provisional winner of IMS Division C from the Tasmanian yacht Mirrabooka (John Bennetto) from the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, and the third placed Aurora (Jim Holley) from the Lake Macquarie Yacht Club in NSW.

Although still at sea, the second West Australian yacht Impulse appears to be the likely winner of IMS Division D. Skipper Lance Woods began his Telstra Sydney to Hobart campaign way back in October when he left Fremantle bound for Sydney.

It seems his efforts have paid off with the Holman Pye 34, picking up a first in division in her first Sydney Hobart Race. Impulse is due to finish at around 10.00pm tonight, in enough time to join in the New Year’s Eve celebrations on Constitution Dock.

Lally’s victory is particularly deserving as he spent three years building the Graham Radford-designed 40-footer, launching it in1995, and in 1998 driving the yacht on the back of a truck from Perth to Sydney to compete in the Telstra Sydney to Hobart race that year.

Red Jacket retired to Eden after 22 hours battling the storm, with Lally packing up the yacht and driving it back to Western Australia.

This year Lally again made the 3,000km trip across the Continent to complete "unfinished business" with the 40-footer finishing a most creditable 17th across the line, beating many similar sized and bigger boats to the Derwent River.

According to designer Graham Radford, Lally has built and campaigned Red Jacket for less than a third of the outlay on most grand prix 40-footers, and come out a winner.

"I believe that Ron deserves a lot of praise for the personal efforts he has put into building a yacht and twice bringing it east with his crew for the Sydney to Hobart Race," Radford said.

RESULTS

IMS Overall Divisional provisional results:

Division A

1. Yendys Hong Kong (Geoffrey Ross)
2. Brindabella NSW (George Snow)
3. Ausmaid SA (Kevan Pearce)

1. Interum Tas (Craig King)
2. Valheru Tas (Anthony Lyall)
3. EZ Street NZ (Bruce Lund)

1. Red Jacket WA (Ron Lally)
2. Mirrabooka Tas (John Bennetto)
3. Aurora NSW (Jim Holley)

1. Impulse WA (Lance Woods)
2. Breakaway Vic (Martin Power)

Performance Handicap (PHS):

Division 1

1. Magna Data NSW (Sean Langman)
2. Marchioness NSW (Michael Canitch)
3. Doctel Rager SA (Gary Shanks)

1. Phillips Foote PNG (Liz Wardley)
2. Alien Vic (Michael Welsh)
3. Grand Chancellor Tas (Mark Ballard)

1. Nokia NSW (Michael Spies/Stefan Myralf)
2. Wild Thing Vic (Grant Wharrington)
3. Leroy Brown NSW (Warren Wieckman)