Mercury (Hobart)

Psaltis in a league of his own

- JANE AUSTIN

ED Psaltis aboard Midnight Rambler was in a class of his own in the Banjo’s Shoreline Crown Series Bellerive Regatta, comprehens­ively winning Racing Division One on AMS and IRC.

Psaltis, from the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, won AMS with a score of eight points from

Jeff Cordell (B&G Advantage) on 18 and John Dryden (Jazz Player) on 26. His win on IRC was equally formidable on nine points from B&G Advantage on 27 points and Wayne BanksSmith (War Games) on 28.

The final day of sailing on the River Derwent brought with it much more settled conditions than the previous day with a steady 10 to 15-knot south-easterly breeze for most of the day. Tim Gadsby (FilePro) from the Bellerive Yacht Club won the Performanc­e Handicap on 28 points from John Dryden (Jazz Player) on 29 points and B&G Advantage on 34 points.

Psaltis capped off a sensationa­l weekend of sailing also winning the second Tasmanian AMS Championsh­ip.

The inaugural AMS Championsh­ip was sailed as part of the same regatta in 2019 and is an initiative of the Bellerive Yacht Club for entries with current AMS certificat­ion

Victoria’s Chris Dare, from the Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club, sailing with his son Lockie and Ben Lamb from NSW, was crowned the new Tasmanian SB20 champion. In second place was SB20 Australian president Stephen Catchpool (Rebellion) sailing with Andrew Roberts and Cole Dabner from Paul McCartney (Porco Rosso) on 28.5 points.

Ian Johnston (Zephyr) blitzed the Performanc­e Cruising Division One winning on AMS, IRC and performanc­e handicap, and Johnston’s ponytail was shaved off at the club after sailing, raising $5000 for cancer research.

Division 2 AMS was won by Nathan Mills and Jay Nibbs (Young One) and Jon Ettershank (Wildfire) took out the performanc­e handicap division. Craig Escott (Commbank) took out Division 3, Stephen Davidson (Dynamo) won Division 4, and Piers Findlay won Division 5.

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