DSS Winter Series - Coopers’ winter win with new SB20

Zephyr heads the Division 1 leaderboard in the DSS Winter Series Peter Campbell

SB20 sailor Jacinta Cooper © Peter Campbell

Close astern came Hypertronics (Stephen Catchpool), Difficult Women (Rob Gough), Pinch (Frazer Read) and Essence of Athena (Athena Sailing) – with just 17 seconds separating this group.

The smart performance by Essence of Athena gave the Athena Sailing all-women crew first place on PHS scoring in race two from Aeolus and Power of Athena.

Wicked had an even closer line honours win in the first race, beating Mind Games (Phil Reid) across the line by just four seconds, with Hypertronics third and also first on PHS. Pinch took second place on PHS, Mind Games third.

Yesterday’s SB20 fleet of 16 boats was the biggest so far in the DSS Winter Series and included four SB20s from the Athena Sailing women’s sailing program. The enthusiasm for sailing on the River Derwent mid-winter augers well for big fleets of SB20s racing this summer, with 42 boats now owned in Hobart.

Members of the Athena Sailing prepare one of their SB20 for racing on the Derwent © Athena Sailing

After eight races (two each day) so far in the Winter Series, Wicked heads both the One Design and PHS categories in the SB20s. Difficult Women is a close second with Foreign Object (George Peacock) third in standings.

Shaun Tiedemann’s Sydney 36cr Philosopher won Division One from series leader Zephyr (Ian Johnston) and Juana (Jock Young). Shaun was on the helm today as his son, Sam, had got a late call to join the crew of Alive at Airlie Beach Race Week in the Whitsundays.

With a consistent scorecard of one – five – one - two, Zephyr has a handy five points lead going into the final race of the DSS/Cascade Winter Series Division One from War Games (Wayne Banks-Smith) with Philosopher and the classic eight-metre yacht Juana (Jock Young) vying for third place overall.

The fifth and final DSS Winter Race is scheduled for Sunday, 4 September.

In Division Two, series leader Another Toy, the Latham Syndicate’s J24, was beaten for the first time this winter, placing fifth today. Race winner was Spare Time (Shane Powell) from Zest (Matt Westland) and Vasco (Graeme Harrington).

However, Another Toy still heads the leaderboard, three points clear of Wildfire (Jon Ettershank) with Vasco four points back in third position.

There was a similar result in Division Three, with Serenity (Graham Hall) finishing third after three consecutive wins. Dynamo (Stephen Davidson) placed first from Cool Change (Chris Bobbi) and Serenity.

Going in the final race of the Winter Series, Serenity has a three points overall lead from Dynamo with Cool Change four points back in third place.