Festival of Sails 2012 - Magic Corio Bay

by Lisa Ratcliff on 28 Jan 2012 The Festival of Sails penultimate day was coined ‘a photographers’ delight’ given it showcased the very best Geelong’s Corio Bay has to offer the 3,000 or so sailors taking part. oldest yachting regatta.

A soft early morning SSW breeze bolstered to 15 after lunchtime and maxed out at 20 knots under blue skies and plenty of sunshine which bathed the near 300 strong fleet.

The Port Arlington race brought to a close the points chase for the cruising divisions, the classic yachts, multihulls and Noelex 30s while the Farr 1020s, Performance Series, S80s and Super 30s finished their Festival of Sails with windward/leeward races.

Performance Series

Top honours in the STRBRD Performance Series Division 1 results went to Michael Smith’s well sailed 12m, Kookaburra, over Andy Keep’s RP46 Shamrock and Rod Miller’s Sequest RP36, Gienah.

Skipper Peter Southwell was surprised but delighted to hear he and co-owner Greg Cooper’s Adams 10, Ten Past Too, had taken out Performance Series Division 2 honours, relegating Andrew Clarke’s sistership, 2XTreme, to second when the final points were tallied.

'We have a great battle with the other Adams 10s from Blairgowrie Yacht Club. We keep each other racing hard,' added Southwell.

Ten Past Too’s consistent results, including today’s two firsts, propelled them to the top of the heap. This evening the delighted skipper spoke highly of his crew’s top notch crew work and added that he was more than happy to take the lucky break that went their way in the final and deciding race.

Coca Cola Multihull Series

The Coca Cola Multihull Series went to David Renouf’s Corsair Sprint 750, Yabb, crewed by David, his 14 year-old daughter Sophie and one other.

Renouf, the Australian Corsair agent, brought the trimaran to the Festival of Sails to show its capabilities and he’s done exactly that with a corrected time victory over Craig Unthank’s Sknot and Tim Pepperell’s Bare Essentials.

'It’s the first time the Corsair 750 has raced at the Festival of Sails and in fact at an Australian regatta,' Renouf pointed out. From Geelong it’s off to the Melbourne boat show for the winning Corsair.

The frontrunners in today’s Portarlington Race unintentionally signposted the ‘go slow’ zone for the rest of the fleet, the multihulls parking up near the Portarlington mark and going around in circles while the rest sailed right up to them, and impudently past.

'It was like an army marching towards us,' said Tim Pepperell, skipper of the lightning fast trimaran Bare Essentials, which climbed its way to the front then stopped at least twice.

Full results at http://www.topyacht.net.au/results/2012/fos/index.htm

This is the Festival of Sails 168th edition. Racing concludes Sunday 29 January.