Pittwater-Coffs Race- It's About Time IRC winner

by Damian Devine on 4 Jan 2011 30th Pittwater Coffs race handicap results.

The CYCA's Julian Farren-Price's Cookson 12 'About Time' has proven to be the jewel in the crown winning the coveted IRC handicap crown in the 30th Anniversary Pittwater to Coffs Race for 2011 in a corrected time of 30hrs 31mins 33 secs.

'About Time' did it again following its victory in 2009 and their third place last year. Farren-Price was always going to be there or there abouts in this race, proving he has been the model of consistency in recent Coffs races.

He won from the RPAYC's John Bacon's Sydney 39CR ' Hussy', another pre-race handicap favourite who was unlucky not to take home the bacon this year, falling short by just under 15 minutes over the 226nm course. Bacon will pick up a deserved Division Two win for his boat and crew's hard work. The mighty 'Hussy' sailed a fantastic race.

Farren-Price who has been racing for over 35 years was elated with his second win in three years,'I would have to say that winning this race for the second time is the best thing that's ever happened to me in all my years of sailing and to win the 30th Anniversary race that's really special. We came here thinking we would be happy to get a place but we never dreamed of winning given the quality field, so it's a dream come true.'

'They were exciting racing conditions and we experienced a top of 34 knots of breeze and had the boat sitting on 17 knots for periods of the race. At times we came into a bit of a grief breaking sails, like the rest of the fleet but we managed to hang in there. We had a 3/4 ounce Macdiarmid spinnaker up in some heavy weather and it proved to be the only sail to withstand the testing conditions.'

Where it was won and lost, Farren-Price added, 'I have a fantastic crew who I have been sailing with for years and they love to win. The difference, I believe, was from Smokey Cape to the finish, where the crew trimmed like hell. They made sure we were on every wave and they hammered the boat hard right to the finish. We just hung in there and the result went our way in the end, I'm really thrilled.'

Second place John Bacon was extremly pleased with his top three position overall, 'I've been doing this race for many years now and whilst I've got a number of Divisional results this is the first time I've podiumed in overall IRC. My goal was for a Top 5 so to get second place, I'm over the moon. It's been a long time coming. We got a great start, popped the Code Zero for a few hours until we got square and got the big chute up. This boat loves square running so when we kept square we were punching well above our weight. We managed to to stay just inside the top of the front and got into in a lane of pressure. When the breeze hit 30-35 knots, we pulled the chute down and Andy McPhail pulled out one of his IOR tricks, poling the headsail and we just motored along. Coming into Smokey Cape we were the boat to beat but then the wind changed to more reaching conditions suiting the Cookson better and we just couldn't catch them. So well done to Julian and his crew, they worked hard.'

'My boat and the crew were great, everyone performed extremely well including Andy McPhail and the Eye Candy crew Annie Taylor, Trevor Hannah, David and Maryann Thomas and Stuart Lyon from Royal Brighton YC, who joined us for his second trip. Thanks also to Pete Antill from North Sails who was fantastic in helping get the boat ready. We all have such a great time in this race and it is a tribute to both yacht clubs, the volunteers and staff thatt help make this a great race. I've got to come back next year to see if I can go one better.'

John Bacon also delivered on another level in this race, donating his beautiful motor vessel, the 'Matthew Flinders', as the radio relay vessel for the race.

The Hunter region delivered up the final place on the podium with the Beneteau First 40 'Close Halled', owned and skippered by Graeme Hall hailing from the Lake Macqaurie Yacht Club, just under eight minutes behind 'Hussy'.

Speaking dockside today at Coffs Harbour Marina, Graeme Hall Past Commodore of LMYC commented, 'We're just stoked. We're just a bunch of mates who love going racing. I'm lucky to have a good boat and a great crew. The boat goes so well upwind, so we were surprised how well it went downhill. At times we had 40 knots over the deck and clocked up to knots boat speed. Our navigator made a crucial decision to gybe back towards the coast and we manged to stay in a good lane of pressure. This is a great result for Lake Macquarie Yacht Club and we hope to be back next year.'

The defending IRC champion, Bruce Staples in his relatively new Farr 40 'Witchcraft' was just over another minute back in fourth spot. This will be a pleasing result for Staples, who pre-race commented he just wanted to be the First Farr 40 home and 'would take it from there'. And take it from there he nearly did,

being on the IRC leaderboard constantly throughout the race. He and the crew sailed out of their skin to punch above their IRC rating in a race not necessarily ideally suited to a Farr 40.

Having won the title last year in his Murray 37 Custom and the running conditions offered in this race, it can only be a case of what might have been had 'Dark & Stormy Witch' been on the race track this year. It may have just been back to back wins.

But as the song goes, 'that was then and this is now' and congratulations must go to Julian Farren-Price for a marvellous effort. It's about time you're back in the winner's circle.

In terms of the Divisional results, IRC Division One saw 'About Time' on top from Bruce Staples 'Witchcraft' with one of the other four Farr 40s in the race, David Elliot's 'E11even' from the RQYS in third. In Division Two 'Hussy' took the honours from 'Close Halled' with Bob Cox's NS369 'Nine Dragons' picking up a podium spot in third.

For the five boats contesting the relatively new ORCI Division, the Grant Dawson/Brett Lawson Kerr 11.3 'Kerisma', another of the Middle Harbour entrants won

The Division from the RPAYC's Garry Holder's ID 35 'The Real Thing' with 'Nine Dragons' taking bronze.

The marina was abuzz this morning, after a big night for most, with skippers and crew tidying up their boats, repairing any damages and hunting down sail makers to fix the plethora of broken sails before the start of the four Solitary Island races to round out the series, commencing tomorrow and Thursday.