No winners in Sydney Newcastle Yacht Race

by Di Pearson on 22 Feb 2015 Paul Clitheroe’s Balance came within five minutes of being the only finisher in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Ocean Point Score’s (OPS) from Sydney to Newcastle late Saturday evening in one of the most frustrating races in recent memory.

Balance, a TP52, had led the race and was best positioned to finish. When Series leader About Time retired at 8.00pm, only four crews remained confident of finishing Race eight before its midnight curfew. Joining Balance in the long slug to Newcastle were two other TP52’s; Rupert Henry’s Fomo and Mick Martin’s Frantic, along with Olympic medallist Dave Forbes and his Kaiko 52, Merlin.

However, Balance’s owner, Paul Clitheroe was not aboard. 'I’m just back from Antarctica and in a brilliant tactical decision, I asked my crew to do the race for me,' he said from home this morning.

'Actually, I started out Saturday feeling very disappointed, but when I saw the Bureau of Meteorology observations saying two knots off Norah Head for most of the day and night, I decided I was genius!

'My crew are probably still trying to recover from a few drinks last night as they tried to forget the race,' he ended.

Principal Race Officer Darryl McManus started the race off Sydney Heads at 9.00am in oppressive heat on an overcast misty morning with little air to speak of and drizzling rain. Not what the doctor ordered. Looking ahead, contemplating finishing was already a daunting prospect for most.

A light and wafty south-easterly breeze ultimately decimated the 25-boat fleet. By 3.00pm yesterday 13 crews, doubting they could make the Newcastle finish line in time, retired and headed home. And who could blame them? They left the remainder of the fleet wallowing off Avoca.

Currently, Julian Farren-Price and his About Time have a stranglehold on the OPS Series, counting four wins in his tally. The CYCA member leads Balance and Swish (Steven Proud’s Kernan 44) by an almost insurmountable 12 and 17 points respectively.

Farren-Price has won the CYCA’s OPS for the past four years straight, and eight out of the last ten with his Cookson 12, which continues to impress in its 15th season.

 Complete Results:

IRC results Start : Div1 09:50 Div2 09:50

Place	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	AHC	Fin Tim	Elapsd	Cor'd T	Score	Vis
ABN	35	IMAGINATION	Robin/Annette Hawtho	1.112				0.0
ABN	93	MERLIN	David Forbes	1.223					Yes
ABN	99	PAZAZZ	Rob Drury	1.127				0.0
ABN	226	SWISH	Steven Proud	1.246				0.0
ABN	248	WAX LYRICAL	Les Goodridge	1.145				0.0
ABN	335	WILLYAMA	R Barron/S San	1.079				0.0
ABN	360	PATRICE	Tony Kirby	1.285				0.0
ABN	4966	KING BILLY	Philip Bennett	0.990					Yes
ABN	6343	GREAT XPECTATIONS	Rod Wills	1.079				0.0
ABN	6377	TRITON	Michael Cranitch	1.393				0.0
ABN	6609	AMANTE	Dennis Cooper	1.043				0.0
ABN	6686	ST JUDE	Noel Cornish	1.173				0.0
ABN	6774	JACKPOT	Adrian Van Bellen	1.078				0.0
ABN	6952	FOMO	Rupert Henry	1.366					Yes
ABN	7700	ABOUT TIME	Julian Farren-Price	1.112				0.0
ABN	7771	BALANCE	Paul Clitheroe	1.361				0.0
ABN	8008	OCC.COARSELANGUAGE 2	Warwick Sherman	1.180				0.0
ABN	8338	ST GEORGE MIDNIGHT R	Ed Psaltis/ Bencsik/	1.193					Yes
ABN	8824	CHANCELLOR	Edward Tooher	1.108				0.0
ABN	11011	ANGER MANAGEMENT	Phil Arnall	1.218					Yes
ABN	11033	KERISMA	Matt Wilkinson	1.151					Yes
ABN	33345	BLACK SHEEP	Derek & Martin Shepp	1.118					Yes
ABN	A140	ARIEL	Ron Forster	1.079				0.0
ABN	AUS01	ICHI BAN	Matt Allen	1.501					Yes
ABN	AUS5299	VICTOIRE	Darryl Hodgkinson	1.352				0.0
ABN	GBR5211L	FRANTIC	Michael Martin	1.346					Yes
ABN	N122	MARTA JEAN	Steve Rae	1.074					Yes
ABN	N349	SCHOUTEN PASSAGE	Jan Howard	1.034					Yes
ABN	N1367	SUMMER SALT	Tim Gleeson	1.013					Yes

ORCI results Start : Div1 09:50 Div2 09:50

Place	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	AHC	Fin Tim	Elapsd	Cor'd T	Score	Vis
ABN	35	IMAGINATION	Robin/Annette Hawtho	1.1057				0.0
ABN	93	MERLIN	David Forbes	1.2427					Yes
ABN	99	PAZAZZ	Rob Drury	1.1199				0.0
ABN	226	SWISH	Steven Proud	1.2353				0.0
ABN	248	WAX LYRICAL	Les Goodridge	1.1238				0.0
ABN	360	PATRICE	Tony Kirby	1.2868				0.0
ABN	2001	QUETZALCOATL	Antony Sweetapple	1.1358				0.0
ABN	4966	KING BILLY	Philip Bennett	0.9757					Yes
ABN	6343	GREAT XPECTATIONS	Rod Wills	1.0621				0.0
ABN	6377	TRITON	Michael Cranitch	1.3867				0.0
ABN	6609	AMANTE	Dennis Cooper	1.0142				0.0
ABN	6837	MINERVA	Tim Cox	1.1360				0.0
ABN	7700	ABOUT TIME	Julian Farren-Price	1.1033				0.0
ABN	7771	BALANCE	Paul Clitheroe	1.3463				0.0
ABN	8008	OCC.COARSELANGUAGE 2	Warwick Sherman	1.1769				0.0
ABN	8338	ST GEORGE MIDNIGHT R	Ed Psaltis/ Bencsik/	1.1848					Yes
ABN	8824	CHANCELLOR	Edward Tooher	1.0844				0.0
ABN	11011	ANGER MANAGEMENT	Phil Arnall	1.1772					Yes
ABN	11033	KERISMA	Matt Wilkinson	1.1348					Yes
ABN	33345	BLACK SHEEP	Derek & Martin Shepp	1.0881					Yes
ABN	A140	ARIEL	Ron Forster	1.0541				0.0
ABN	AUS5299	VICTOIRE	Darryl Hodgkinson	1.3294				0.0
ABN	GBR5211L	FRANTIC	Michael Martin	1.3202					Yes
ABN	SYD181	ONLINE	Stephen Trevillion	1.0507				0.0

PHSTCF results Start : Div1 09:50 Div2 09:50

Place	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	AHC	Fin Tim	Elapsd	Cor'd T	Score	Vis
ABN	35	IMAGINATION	Robin/Annette Hawtho	1.1302				0.0
ABN	93	MERLIN	David Forbes	1.2600					Yes
ABN	99	PAZAZZ	Rob Drury	1.1227				0.0
ABN	195	SAMARKAND	Walter Carpenter	1.1306				0.0
ABN	226	SWISH	Steven Proud	1.2505				0.0
ABN	248	WAX LYRICAL	Les Goodridge	1.0960				0.0
ABN	335	WILLYAMA	R Barron/S San	1.0319				0.0
ABN	360	PATRICE	Tony Kirby	1.3159				0.0
ABN	2001	QUETZALCOATL	Antony Sweetapple	1.0541				0.0
ABN	4966	KING BILLY	Philip Bennett	0.9730					Yes
ABN	6343	GREAT XPECTATIONS	Rod Wills	1.0863				0.0
ABN	6377	TRITON	Michael Cranitch	1.3997				0.0
ABN	6396	SPORTS BAR	Nev & Jo Blair	1.0730				0.0
ABN	6609	AMANTE	Dennis Cooper	1.0221				0.0
ABN	6686	ST JUDE	Noel Cornish	1.1590				0.0
ABN	6774	JACKPOT	Adrian Van Bellen	1.0904				0.0
ABN	6837	MINERVA	Tim Cox	1.1363				0.0
ABN	6952	FOMO	Rupert Henry	1.4204					Yes
ABN	7700	ABOUT TIME	Julian Farren-Price	1.1592				0.0
ABN	7771	BALANCE	Paul Clitheroe	1.3749				0.0
ABN	8008	OCC.COARSELANGUAGE 2	Warwick Sherman	1.1799				0.0
ABN	8330	SHIBUMI	B Moore P Thompson	0.9658				0.0
ABN	8338	ST GEORGE MIDNIGHT R	Ed Psaltis/ Bencsik/	1.2411					Yes
ABN	8824	CHANCELLOR	Edward Tooher	1.0398				0.0
ABN	10000	BRINDABELLA	Jim Cooney	1.4051				0.0
ABN	11011	ANGER MANAGEMENT	Phil Arnall	1.1247					Yes
ABN	11033	KERISMA	Matt Wilkinson	1.1221					Yes
ABN	33345	BLACK SHEEP	Derek & Martin Shepp	1.1029					Yes
ABN	A140	ARIEL	Ron Forster	1.0970				0.0
ABN	AUS01	ICHI BAN	Matt Allen	1.5458					Yes
ABN	AUS5299	VICTOIRE	Darryl Hodgkinson	1.3481				0.0
ABN	GBR5211L	FRANTIC	Michael Martin	1.3137					Yes
ABN	MH111	JOUST	Ray Entwistle	1.0740					Yes
ABN	N122	MARTA JEAN	Steve Rae	1.0435					Yes
ABN	N349	SCHOUTEN PASSAGE	Jan Howard	1.0290					Yes
ABN	N1367	SUMMER SALT	Tim Gleeson	0.9432					Yes
ABN	NZL1	ART EQUITY MAHLIGAI	Murray Owen	1.1456					Yes
ABN	SYD181	ONLINE	Stephen Trevillion	1.0224				0.0