TENNIS, SAILING

Off-Piste does it tough in win

IN the early hours of yesterday morning, Paul Einoder’s small yacht OffPiste swept across the finish line of the 89-nautical mile Bruny Island Yacht Race, 14th and last in fleet.

Hours later, the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania declared the Beneteau Oceanis 34 the winner of both the AMS and PHS categories of this historic circumnavigation of Bruny Island, south of Hobart race, first sailed 120 years ago.

Recent Australian Yachting Championship winner Philosopher, Shaun Tiedemann’s Sydney 36cr, was named as winner of the third category, IRC.

Riding home on a strong sou’wester, Off-Piste and the other smaller boats finished only three hours and 45 minutes astern of line honours winner Oskana, Michael Pritchard’s Cookson 50.

With the conditions favouring the lower rating boats, Oskana placed last on corrected time in all three handicap categories, her elapsed time being 12 hours 11 minutes and 04 seconds.

Off-Piste won the PHS category from Stewart Geeves’s Young 88 Footloose which finished 13th in fleet, less than two and a half minutes ahead of the lower rating Off-Piste. Third place went to another smaller boat, John Dryden’s Prion.

In the AMS category, OffPiste and Footloose again placed first and second with third place to Philosopher, which placed fifth in fleet.

“Great race …. but it was tough at the end,” Off-Piste crewman Greg Rowlings said afterwards.

Philosopher won the IRC category by just seven seconds on corrected time from David Aplin’s MBD36, the two 36footers duelling all the way around the island. Off-Piste placed third in IRC.

In a race-long close duel for line honours, Oskana finished only six seconds ahead of The Fork in the Road (Gary Smith) with Crusader, Scott Sharp’s Melges 32, third.