Sydney City Marine Winter Series - Beautiful conditions for Race 8

by Middle Harbour Yacht Club on 7 Jul 2013 With only three weeks of racing remaining in the MHYC 2013 Sydney City Marine Winter Series, the day dawned with beautiful clear blue skies and a forecast breeze of 10 -15 knots from the West.

Today’s fleet of 20 entrants lined up in the glorious Winter sunshine under the watchful eye of Race Officer, Steve Tucker, and his dedicated team. Amongst the fleet starting today were two high profile entrants, 2011 Farr 40 World Champion ‘Transfusion’ (Guido Belgiorno-Nettis) and MHYC Champion, ‘Nine Dragons’ (Bob Cox), who had his boat and crew out on the water for a tune up and shake down before they tackle the 384nm race from Sydney to Southport.

With a husky voice and suffering a case of ‘man flu’, Bob Cox was quoted as saying, 'I was on the helm and tactician today and I totally stuffed the start. We really missed the services of Mitch White who sailed on board Transfusion today.' He added, 'All is not lost, as it was a good test day for two new crew on the foredeck, who did an excellent job in preparation for Southport'. Race Officer, Steve Tucker, noted that Nine Dragons’ start was in fact 56 seconds late!

It was a day of doubles with Transfusion taking both IRC and PHS results (as well as line honours). 2Xcess and Impeccable both each taking PHS and line honours results in Divisions two and three respectively.

Peter Woodhead of 2Xcess remarked, 'It was a beautiful Winter’s day, sailing in the best part of the harbour and we thank Sydney City Marine for their support.'

John Walker, who also is feeling under the weather, couldn’t stay around for the presentation but his crew felt that he would have commented that, 'I’m honoured to win but it was the crew that made the difference!'

Today’s results are as follows:-

IRC
Division one – first Transfusion (Guido Belgiorno-Nettis), second Nine Dragons (Bob Cox), third Botany Access Cocomo (Justin Brownbill)

PHS
Division two – first Transfusion (Guido Belgiorno-Nettis), second Botany Access Cocomo (Justin Brownbill), third Stormaway (Jack Stening)
Division two – first 2Xcess (Peter Woodhead), second Luminae Lunae (Kimber Darling), third No Friends (Geoff Charters)
Division three – first Impeccable (John Walker), second Twitcher (Steve and Judy Plante), third In The Red (Warren Lesnie)

With the final race of the series on 20th July, places are still not set in stone but likely winners in each Division include ‘Stormaway’ (Jack Stening) in Division one IRC and PHS, ‘2Xcess’ (Peter Woodhead) in Division two, who has done extremely well to catch up after entering the Series late in Race 3. In Division three ‘In The Red’ (Warren Lesnie) is looking as though they’ll be likely winners amassing a strong lead, and almost can’t be beaten from here on also.

This ten race Saturday series concludes on Saturday 20 July 2013, with the Official Prize-giving Presentation that same afternoon in the traditional MHYC post race venue - the Harbourview Bar.

For series results, click here.

Weekly place-getters are rewarded with a great range of gear from Sydney City Marine, with the Sydney City Marine Perpetual Trophy for the overall divisional winners.

Contact the MHYC Sailing Office for further details, Notice of Race and Entry Forms on 9969 1244 or sailing-admin@mhyc.com.au or visit the MHYC website.