Port Hacking Race - St George Midnight Rambler steals the show

by Di Pearson, CYCA Media on 16 Nov 2014

St George Midnight Rambler had a quick run home to win. Brogan www.sailpix.com.au

Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race hopeful, St George Midnight Rambler, had a quick downwind ride to the finish in the Port Hacking Race this afternoon, to claim first place in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Ocean Point Score’s (OPS) Race 4 by four minutes over Balance.

However, owners Ed Psaltis, Bob Thomas and Michael Bencsik, who took the triple with their Ker 40, winning IRC, ORCi and PHS, are casual entries in the Series, leaving the door open for Series contender, Paul Clitheroe and his TP52 Balance, which overtook Brindabella for line honours and finished second overall in both IRC and ORCi, with Steven Proud sailing his Kernan 44, Swish into third place overall and fourth under ORCi.

Today’s results bring Balance to within three points of series leader, About Time (Julian Farren-Price) and Swish moves up into third place overall. Balance could be a serious threat to About Time, which has dominated the annual series for the last four years.'

Balance finished at 14.06.23 hours, nine minutes ahead of Jim Cooney’s Brindabella, which had rounded the Port Hacking mark first and set a spinnaker for the run home. Balance picked the older and heavier yacht up off Maroubra in an 18-20 knot south/south-easterly, and kept up the momentum going to the finish line in Rushcutters Bay.

Balance took line honours and finished second overall. © Brogan www.sailpix.com.au

Clitheroe said, 'Brindabella was going like a rocket, but she is heavier than us and we just skim over the waves.' The financial whizz was over the moon to discover they had done so well for the second week running and was unusually pleased for St George Midnight Rambler beating them overall.

'We’ve formed a team with Ed and Sam Haynes (ADA Celestial) for the Southern Cross Cup (which includes the Rolex Sydney Hobart) and today two of the team sailed and finished first and second. It goes without saying that Ed and his crew are great sailors,' he said.

'Sam’s leading the Blue Water Point Score and we’re one point behind him – that’s great for the team,' pointed out Clitheroe, who last week won the Cabbage Tree Island Race, a qualifier for the Sydney Hobart in the Blue Water Point Score.

The yachtsman said Steven Proud 'Sailed a good all-round race. Once we got out of the Harbour in lightish air, and around the corner, we were amazed to discover a 14-16 knot south/south-easterly and Swish sailed the leg up really well and kept up the good work on the run home.

'It was surprising to beat About Time (the defending OPS multiple champion and overall leader of this current series). To beat Julian once is a miracle, so we’ll take that, thank you,' he said of the jeweller’s Cookson 12.

The race may have got off to shaky start in the light breeze, with the lead changing as the boats headed out to sea, and while Brindabella, a Jutson 80, took control at the front, there were place changes going on all the way up to the mark south of Sydney - and on the way home.

Swish sailed well to finish third overall. © Brogan www.sailpix.com.au

Behind the leaders, Noel Cornish’s Sydney 47 St Jude rounded the Port Hacking mark just before 1.00pm, with Swish and David Pescud’s TP52, Wot Eva-SWD giving chase, but the downwind leg home changed the finish order dramatically, leaving St Jude out of the picture.

Shortly after, 2013 Rolex Sydney Hobart winner, Victoire retired after steering damage was reported from Darryl Hodgkinson’s canting Cookson 50, which had to be driven home under emergency steering. If it had to happen, better now than later down the track in the race he won last year.

Just prior to the 10.00am start, conditions were not clear-cut, as Race Officer Steve Kidson explained: 'I was a little nervous in the time leading up to the start, because we only had 3-4 knots of fickle breeze. I didn’t think we’d be able to get them away on time, but just at the right time, we got an eight knot south-easterly.'

The Port Hacking Race was the third in the OPS series. Race 4 will be Middle Harbour Yacht Club’s Sydney Short Ocean Racing Championship on November 29.

*IRC results Start : Div1 10:00 Div2 10:00*
Place	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	Div No	AHC	Fin Tim	Elapsd	Cor'd T	Score	Vis	Sponsor
1	8338	ST GEORGE MIDNIGHT R	Ed Psaltis/ Bencsik/	1	1.193	14:36:42	04:36:42	05:30:06	1.0
2	52002	BALANCE	Paul Clitheroe	1	1.356	14:06:23	04:06:23	05:34:06	2.0
3	226	SWISH	Steven Proud	1	1.241	14:34:19	04:34:19	05:40:26	3.0
4	7700	ABOUT TIME	Julian Farren-Price	1	1.112	15:06:18	05:06:18	05:40:36	4.0
5	93	MERLIN	David Forbes	1	1.223	14:43:01	04:43:01	05:46:08		Yes
6	8008	OCC.COARSELANGUAGE 2	Warwick Sherman	1	1.179	14:55:09	04:55:09	05:47:59	5.0
7	6343	GREAT XPECTATIONS	Rod Wills	2	1.079	15:22:39	05:22:39	05:48:08	6.0
8	6609	AMANTE	Dennis Cooper	2	1.043	15:39:51	05:39:51	05:54:28	7.0
9	6686	ST JUDE	Noel Cornish	1	1.173	15:02:57	05:02:57	05:55:22	8.0
10	99	PAZAZZ	Rob Drury	1	1.127	15:20:39	05:20:39	06:01:22	9.0
11	6774	JACKPOT	Adrian Van Bellen	2	1.078	15:38:42	05:38:42	06:05:07	10.0
12	6953	WOT EVA - SWD	David Pescud	1	1.338	14:33:02	04:33:02	06:05:19		Yes
13	335	WILLYAMA	R Barron/S San	2	1.079	15:45:35	05:45:35	06:12:53	11.0
14	248	WAX LYRICAL	Les Goodridge	1	1.145	15:28:55	05:28:55	06:16:37	12.0
DNC	35	IMAGINATION	Robin/Annette Hawtho	1	1.112				17.0
DNC	360	PATRICE	Tony Kirby	1	1.284				17.0
DNC	421	CELESTIAL	Sam Haynes	1	1.267					Yes
DNC	5826	SALTSHAKER	Peter Franki	2	1.036					Yes
DNC	6377	TRITON	Michael Cranitch	1	1.403				17.0
DNC	6755	RAPTOR	Ian Creak	2	1.076					Yes
DNC	8824	CHANCELLOR	Edward Tooher	2	1.108				17.0
DNC	18889	NINE DRAGONS	Bob Cox	1	1.185					Yes
DNC	A140	ARIEL	Ron Forster	2	1.085				17.0
RET	AUS5299	VICTOIRE	Darryl Hodgkinson	1	1.352				14.0

*ORCI results Start : Div1 10:00 Div2 10:00*
Place	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	AHC	Fin Tim	Elapsd	Cor'd T	Score	Vis	Sponsor
1	8338	ST GEORGE MIDNIGHT R	Ed Psaltis/ Bencsik/	1.1848	14:36:42	04:36:42	05:27:50	1.0
2	52002	BALANCE	Paul Clitheroe	1.3444	14:06:23	04:06:23	05:31:14	2.0
3	7700	ABOUT TIME	Julian Farren-Price	1.1033	15:06:18	05:06:18	05:37:56	3.0
4	226	SWISH	Steven Proud	1.2380	14:34:19	04:34:19	05:39:36	4.0
5	6343	GREAT XPECTATIONS	Rod Wills	1.0621	15:22:39	05:22:39	05:42:41	5.0
6	6609	AMANTE	Dennis Cooper	1.0142	15:39:51	05:39:51	05:44:41	6.0
7	8008	OCC.COARSELANGUAGE 2	Warwick Sherman	1.1769	14:55:09	04:55:09	05:47:22	7.0
8	93	MERLIN	David Forbes	1.2427	14:43:01	04:43:01	05:51:42		Yes
9	99	PAZAZZ	Rob Drury	1.1226	15:20:39	05:20:39	05:59:58	8.0
10	SYD181	ONLINE	Stephen Trevillion	1.0507	15:45:50	05:45:50	06:03:22	9.0
11	248	WAX LYRICAL	Les Goodridge	1.1238	15:28:55	05:28:55	06:09:38	10.0
12	2001	QUETZALCOATL	Antony Sweetapple	1.1358	15:28:38	05:28:38	06:13:16	11.0
13	11033	KERISMA	MattAndrew Dion	1.1348	15:47:27	05:47:27	06:34:17	12.0
DNC	35	IMAGINATION	Robin/Annette Hawtho	1.1057				17.0
DNC	360	PATRICE	Tony Kirby	1.2874				17.0
DNC	421	CELESTIAL	Sam Haynes	1.2503					Yes
DNC	6377	TRITON	Michael Cranitch	1.3906				17.0
DNC	6755	RAPTOR	Ian Creak	1.0335					Yes
DNC	6837	MINERVA	Tim Cox	1.1360				17.0
DNC	8824	CHANCELLOR	Edward Tooher	1.0844				17.0
DNC	A140	ARIEL	Ron Forster	1.0579				17.0
RET	AUS5299	VICTOIRE	Darryl Hodgkinson	1.3264				14.0

*PHSTCF results Start : Div1 10:00 Div2 10:00*
Place	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	Div No	AHC	Fin Tim	Elapsd	Cor'd T	Score	Vis	Sponsor
1	8338	ST GEORGE MIDNIGHT R	Ed Psaltis/ Bencsik/	1	1.2198	14:36:42	04:36:42	05:37:31	1.0
2	2001	QUETZALCOATL	Antony Sweetapple	2	1.0329	15:28:38	05:28:38	05:39:27	2.0
3	226	SWISH	Steven Proud	1	1.2386	14:34:19	04:34:19	05:39:46	3.0
4	8008	OCC.COARSELANGUAGE 2	Warwick Sherman	1	1.1533	14:55:09	04:55:09	05:40:24	4.0
5	52002	BALANCE	Paul Clitheroe	1	1.3845	14:06:23	04:06:23	05:41:07	5.0
6	6343	GREAT XPECTATIONS	Rod Wills	2	1.0651	15:22:39	05:22:39	05:43:39	6.0
7	SYD181	ONLINE	Stephen Trevillion	2	1.0022	15:45:50	05:45:50	05:46:36	7.0
8	195	SAMARKAND	Walter Carpenter	1	1.1308	15:07:51	05:07:51	05:48:07	8.0
9	7700	ABOUT TIME	Julian Farren-Price	1	1.1490	15:06:18	05:06:18	05:51:56	9.0
10	93	MERLIN	David Forbes	1	1.2439	14:43:01	04:43:01	05:52:03		Yes
11	6686	ST JUDE	Noel Cornish	1	1.1682	15:02:57	05:02:57	05:53:54	10.0
12	248	WAX LYRICAL	Les Goodridge	1	1.0764	15:28:55	05:28:55	05:54:03	11.0
13	99	PAZAZZ	Rob Drury	1	1.1064	15:20:39	05:20:39	05:54:46	12.0
14	6609	AMANTE	Dennis Cooper	2	1.0509	15:39:51	05:39:51	05:57:09	13.0
15	335	WILLYAMA	R Barron/S San	2	1.0374	15:45:35	05:45:35	05:58:30	14.0
16	10000	BRINDABELLA	Jim Cooney	1	1.4051	14:15:24	04:15:24	05:58:52	15.0
17	6953	WOT EVA - SWD	David Pescud	1	1.3313	14:33:02	04:33:02	06:03:29		Yes
18	6774	JACKPOT	Adrian Van Bellen	2	1.0891	15:38:42	05:38:42	06:08:53	16.0
19	11033	KERISMA	MattAndrew Dion	1	1.1300	15:47:27	05:47:27	06:32:37	17.0
20	8330	SHIBUMI	B Moore P Thompson	2	0.9734	16:44:03	06:44:03	06:33:18	18.0
DNC	35	IMAGINATION	Robin/Annette Hawtho	1	1.1397				23.0
DNC	360	PATRICE	Tony Kirby	1	1.3066				23.0
DNC	421	CELESTIAL	Sam Haynes	1	1.2980					Yes
DNC	5826	SALTSHAKER	Peter Franki	2	1.0674					Yes
DNC	6377	TRITON	Michael Cranitch	1	1.4262				23.0
DNC	6396	SPORTS BAR	Nev & Jo Blair	2	1.0653				23.0
DNC	6755	RAPTOR	Ian Creak	2	1.0500					Yes
DNC	6837	MINERVA	Tim Cox	1	1.1331				23.0
DNC	8824	CHANCELLOR	Edward Tooher	2	1.0245				23.0
DNC	8975	LAST TANGO	Phillip King	2	1.0930					Yes
DNC	18889	NINE DRAGONS	Bob Cox	1	1.2220					Yes
DNC	A140	ARIEL	Ron Forster	2	1.0673				23.0
DNC	AUS7151	OPTIMUM	Richard Brasher	2	1.0630					Yes
RET	AUS5299	VICTOIRE	Darryl Hodgkinson	1	1.3739				20.0