Classic yachts racing to Cygnet

PORT Cygnet Sailing Club Regatta this weekend has certainly attracted a wide mixture of sailing craft among the 50-plus entries for the three-day regatta that starts today.

They include a converted ’couta fishing boat, two past Sydney to Hobart yacht race winners, a Bristol Channel cutter and the magnificent 8-metre class racing yacht Varg. Then there’s a vintage 12 square-metre Sharpie, several Etchells, a couple of multihulls and a Phillip Rhodes-designed ketch built in 1936.

Varg is a replica of an 8-metre yacht designed by Anker and Jensen in Norway in 1924 and later raced in Sydney as Norn.

The beautiful timber yacht was built to that yacht’s original lines for Cygnet residents Kraig and Carolyn Carlstrom by Wilson Brothers, who have been building boats at Cygnet since 1870.

Varg, recently shipped back to Tasmania after contesting the Eight Metre World championships in Norway, will contest all three regatta races — from Cygnet to Kettering today, Kettering to Cygnet tomorrow and the Port Cygnet Race on Sunday.

Hobart yachts racing to Kettering this evening include Launceston to Hobart race line honours winner Tilt, Peter and Catherine Cretan’s Marten 49, Ian Stewart’s Mumm 36, TasPaints, and Michael Hutchinson’s Hobie 33, Emotional Rescue, a former Cock of the Huon winner.

The two former Sydney to Hobart winners also heading down the Channel are Ultimate Challenge, Peter Jenkins’ Dubois 40, and She’s Apples II, a Jarkan 12.5 now owned by Marcus McKay.

A standout in the fleet with its red sails will be Saona, a Phillip Rhodes ketch built in 1936 and owned by Ben Marris at Kettering Yacht Club.

The gaff-rigged ’couta boat is Royal, a 28-footer former fishing boat owned by Ian Clare.

The regatta starts at 11am today, with a race of local yachts, starting at Beaupre Point near Cygnet, down the Huon River and then up the D’Entrecasteaux Channel to Kettering. Then, at 6pm, Hobart-based boats will sail an early evening race down the River Derwent and the Channel to Kettering.

Tomorrow at noon the two fleets will join in a race back down the Channel and the Huon to Cygnet.

The regatta highlight is on Sunday afternoon with the Port Cygnet Race, a roundthe-buoys race sailed in two divisions, starting at 1pm and 1.30pm.