Sydney City Marine Winter Series - Ragamuffin joins Race 9

by Alana Whitting on 10 Jul 2012 Sydney City Marine Winter Series 2012 - In our second last week of racing we were joined by series sponsor, Syd Fischer from Sydney City Marine, aboard his TP 52 Ragamuffin.

Having Ragamuffin along to race added some excitement for MHYC Members who have enjoyed a good series of Winter racing and witnessed up close the speed and agility of a TP 52 on Sydney Harbour.

'It was a great day to be out on the water with the Middle Harbour Yacht Club fleet. A good work out for the Ragamuffin crew in the lead up to the Gold Coast race at the end of the month,' commented Fischer.

With next week as the final race of the series places are still not set in stone but likely winners in each Division include MRZ in Division 1 IRC and MRZ again in close contest with Wailea in Division 1 PHS. Both Divisions 2 and 3 have seen various changes in Division leaders throughout the series with No Friends (Division 2) and In The Red (Division 3) looking as though they’ll be likely winners in their Divisions after next weeks final race.

Our Junior Sailing Team aboard J24 Whisper are currently placed fourth in Division 3 and it will be interesting to see if they can move into third after the final race next weekend.

This ten race Saturday series concludes next Saturday 14 July 2012.

For series results visit 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.

Racing is on the ‘Sound of Sydney Harbour’, with a First Warning Signal at 1200 hours. Course lengths are specifically tailored to wind strength. The series offers IRC and PHS results and divisions are determined to ensure competitive racing delivered to all competitors.

Divisions:
Division 1 – IRC and PHS Spinnaker
Division 2 – PHS Spinnaker
Division 3 – PHS Spinnaker and Non-Spinnaker/Cruising

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

Race Nine Race Report - from our on water race reporter, Phil Clinton – Vice Commodore Racing, Middle Harbour Yacht Club:
The day dawned with Hughie wanting to confirm that it was Winter. So it was a cold day with the threat of rain but some breeze. The start boat was found towards North Harbour displaying Course 8, the South course.

We even had the series sponsor enter his yacht Ragamuffin as a warm up and crew training for the Southport Race. Even the top yachts see racing with MHYC as sound crew training.

The Division 1 start was always going to be interesting with a TP 52 entering the fray.

The breeze was 10 to 12 knots and looked like we were going to get a race with proper works and runs to test crew and tacticians.

As the yachts lined up for the Division 1 start it was Ragamuffin at speed working towards the line. All the yachts seemed hesitant and they were all a little late on the start. The bow on Ragamuffin was so sure they were going to be behind the line on the hooter he was seen to run back and hike out. As the yachts worked out towards the heads it was Ragamuffin showing her heals with Nine Dragons second and MRZ tagging along.

The Division 2 start was similar with 2Xcess winning the start. The first work towards Lady Bay threw up a few challenges for the tacticians as there seemed to be quite different wind patterns on the left and right side of the harbour. The leg to Lady Bay required a couple of tacks but it was basically a drag race to the mark. Ragamuffin was well clear and hoisted a large white Asso kite. This was going to be the test to see if the rest of the yachts could set a kite and make the Inflatable at Grotto. Most of the yachts opted to reach up and set kites at or about the green channel marker. There was a bit of kite flapping to get around the mark. After Grotto it was a bear away to round the Bombora marks to head to Manly. Some went deep to gybe and others risked lighter winds staying shy on the Dobroyd headland.

There were kites gybed at Manly West by some of the more risk taking skippers while the more conservative skippers opted for an early drop.

From Manly East it was another drag race to Cannae Point and slight harden up towards Lady Bay. This saw the yachts split with some heading for New Zealand and others heading for Middle Head. The Middle Head side seemed to pay off.

From Lady Bay it was a bear away set for the run back to the Cannae Point mark. In Division 1 it was a big lead to Ragamuffin giving the MHYC yachts an example of just how quick a TP 52 is.

Then followed a work back to Lady Bay for the final run of the day to the inflatable at Grotto Point and then on to the Manly marks. By now the breeze had picked up a bit and one unfortunate yacht’s white kite was seen to blow into many bits as it rounded the Lady Bay mark.

Having had a race with little or no rain it was a final work back to Watsons Bay and into the rain.
So finally with Hughie giving us a full length course with reasonable wind and only a bit of rain. But the temperature was a bit low.

The results were very interesting.

In Division 1 across the line it was Ragamuffin by 14 mins to Nine Dragons and a further 11 mins to MRZ.

On IRC it was Ragamuffin (Syd Fischer) by about 1 min 30 seconds to Nine Dragons (Bob Cox) with MRZ (Grant Breeze) a further 3 mins behind.

On PHS it was Ragamuffin by 19 seconds to MRZ and a further 33 seconds to James Arthur (Matthew Triglone).

In Division 2 across the line it was 2Xcess (Peter Woodhead) by about 3 mins 30 seconds to Another Dilemma (Jim Curtis) and another 1 min to Contentious (Brian Lees).

On PHS it was No Friends (Geoff Charters) by 42 seconds to Lunchcutter II (Keith Dunn) and another 1 min 20 to Shibumi (Paul Thompson).

It was interesting to note that between third and sixth placing there was 35 seconds.

In Division 3 across the line it was In The Red (Warren Lesnie) by about 30 seconds to Impeccable (John Walker) and another 6 mins to Twitcher (Steve & Judy Plante).

On PHS it was In The Red by about 5 mins 30 seconds from Twitcher and another 1 min 30 sec to Impeccable.
Next week is the final Sydney City Marine Winter Series race for this year. So I look forward to seeing you all out on the Middle Harbour Yacht Club website