Golden oldies still up to the chase
THE Cruising Yacht Club of Australia has used the pursuit race format for its winter series successfully for many years, says Mercury yachting writer Peter Campbell, who won a number of winter races on Sydney Harbour in past years with his Bonbridge 27, Hornblower.
“Starts could be frustrating and chaotic when there was no wind at the start and up to 100 boats log-jammed on the line,” Campbell said.
“But all and all it has worked well for decades.”
This was underlined on Sydney Harbour last weekend with the running of the 2018 Great Veterans Race on Saturday, and the opening day of the CYCA Winter Series on Sunday.
The Great Veterans Race is open to any yacht that contested the Sydney to Hobart before 1975, or was launched before 1975 and competed subsequently.
For the past 30 years these ocean-racing veterans have raced for the coveted Windward Trophy.
This year, for the first time, it was contested as a “stern chaser’’ pursuit race, with the new format attracting a fleet of 19 yachts.
This response was also due to efforts to reinvigorate the event as the 75th anniversary of the Sydney to Hobart race approaches.
Sailed in a variable southwesterly breeze, the 2018 Great Veterans Race was strictly “no extras’’ and tended to favour the larger yachts.
An early Alan Payne design, Fare the Well (Clive Gregory), scored an emphatic win in Division 1 from Suraya (Carl Scriber) and Defiance (Nicole Shrimpton).
The Halvorsen-designed, built and sailed Anitra V, winner of the 1957 Sydney to Hobart race and now owned by Philip Brown, won Division 2.
Runners-up in Division 2, Nike (Sam Hunt) and Lahara (Mike Warne), have close Tasmanian links.
Nike, a 10.9m Sparkman and Stephens design, was raced by the late Charles Davies in several Sydney to Hobarts and was a member of the Tasmanian team that contested the Southern Cross Cup in 1973. It was built for Mr Davies in Hobart by Max Creese.
Lahara was designed and built by the late Jock Muir for New Guinea-based Des Ashton and finished second overall in the 1951 Sydney to Hobart, with Muir as sailing master.
It went on to also place second in the Hobart to Auckland race.
The timber-hulled 9.2-metre Lahara, the forerunner of Muir’s Abel Tasman designs, has been a regular visitor to Hobart for the Australian Wooden Boat Festival.
Among other famous old Sydney to Hobart entrants to take part in this year’s Great Veterans were Fidelis, Stormy Petrel, Love & War, Struen Marie, Lolita, Mister Christian, Mercedes II and Solveig.
Short-cut to success
HUSBAND and wife team Steve and Trina Davidson have sailed their I550 sports boat Dynamo to two consecutive wins in the Derwent Sailing Squadron short-handed series.
Last Sunday, Dynamo revelled in the light and rather fluky breeze, and the Davidsons took out a line and handicap double in Division 5 (non-spinnaker).
The conditions clearly suited the sports boats, with Steve Harrison’s Temptation also scoring an outright win in Division 2 (spinnaker).
In Division 3 (non-spinnaker), Scott Morrison’s Jigsaw reversed the order over the previous Sunday’s winner Wildfire, skippered by David Berechree.
Graham Hall and David Short notched up a second win in Division 4 (spinnaker), and in the B20 class (Division 6) veteran Nick Rogers steered Wicked to an outright win.
Michael Pritchard’s Cookson 50 Oskana had a walkover as the only starter in Division 1.
Cruise control
THE weather was perfect last weekend for the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania’s 60th Navigation and Seamanship Cruise — the equivalent of a car rally on water.
Once again, the Cruise proved a great test of navigation and boating safety on the River Derwent and the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, intermixed with tricky questions on club history and yachting parlance. There was even a footy tipping contest.
This is a fun event, but also a serious test of boating skills that has attracted many RYCT members over many years.
A fleet of 19 yachts and motor cruisers took part, with the course set by last year’s winning navigator, Claire Cunningham. Helping her were Peter and Victoria Langford, Mark and Sue Peacock, and their parents, Ann and Chris.
The fleet left the RYCT on the Friday evening for an overnight rendezvous at Quarantine Bay on Bruny Island.
Under a full moon, each boat had to check in at control points at Taroona, Bligh Point and Coningham.
After an early start on Saturday, the fleet motored to Woodbridge, Flowerpot and Gordon before checking in near Simpsons Point for a lunch break.
Saturday afternoon proved a real test, with half the fleet sent to Missionary Bay and half to Snake Island.
Subsequent control instructions saw these destinations reversed, which caught out many teams that had already started to head out of Simpsons Bay.
The final check-in was at Trial Bay, with all boats safely berthing at Kettering, where more than 100 participants enjoyed a steak dinner at the most hospitable Kettering Yacht Club.
Overall victory as the winning navigator went to Steve Davison aboard Nick Newstead’s Huon Haze. The novice navigator award went to James Butler aboard Iverus.
The major award for Huon Haze and her crew will be to set the course for next year’s Cruise.