Great conditions take the Land Rover Winter Series to a season high

by Ross MacDonald on 19 Jun 2017 The exciting weather conditions were the big story of race seven of the Land Rover Winter Series on Sydney Harbour on Sunday. A strong breeze with some even bigger gusts mixing up the fleet and dishing out some unexpected results across the groups.

There were however no surprises at the top of Division A1 as Tony Kirby’s Patrice took out the top spot to extend his lead over Sebastian Bohm’s Rogers 46 The Goat in the overall series results. On Sunday Kirby finished ahead of David Pescud’s TP52 SWD Wot Eva with The Goat third.

Speaking after the race and his second-place finish, David Pescud commented:
“We were absolutely delighted with the result. We went out a few weeks ago and were shorthanded so didn’t perform as we’d hoped. This weekend it was a different story with our full complement of crew.
“The weather really made it for us, great conditions and a very pleasurable day. It was a bit grey at the start but then the sun came out and where else would you rather be?!”

“Our battles were with UBS Wild Thing, Patrice and The Goat of course. We kept our eye on Patrice throughout, sometimes he was in front then it was our turn to lead. Before we knew it the race had ended and he was ahead but still a fantastic result.”

“It was a fun filled night on the deck at CYCA I can tell you that.”

It was a similar story in the Non-spinnaker category where Arthur Lane’s Beneteau Oceanis 46 Inkonkoni finished first in a race which he described as ‘poetry in motion’:

“It was our best race of the year largely because of the conditions of course but still, fantastic. We had a full crew on board for the first time in a long time and they were working away like clockwork. The conditions were a bit gusty but we were balanced and had the right sails up.”

“It was competitive in our division but we were well positioned to deal with the weather and get the best out of the boat.”

“It felt like a race which was a test of equipment and I’m sure there would have been a bit of damage around. Talk about End of Financial Year SAILS – I think it will be a busy week for the local sailmakers.”

“Our celebrations were extended as we took the win on the same day as our crew enjoyed their first wedding anniversary. Congratulations to Douglas and Leo Toy and we would like to thank them for their good luck!”

Divisional winners: Division A1 – Patrice (Tony Kirby); Division A2 – Exile (Rob Reynolds); Division B – Flying Cloud (Howard Piggot); Division C – Reve (Kevin Whelan); Division D – Iluka (Dan Storch); Division E – Selkie (Antico Booth Lewis); Division F – Zora (Pacific Sailing School); Division G – Sea Ya (J Hewitt C Johnson); Division J1 – Inkonkoni (Arthur Lane); Division J2 – Katinka (Paul and Ellen O’Connell).