Veteran Wynyard boat wins trailable yacht division on Derwent
by Peter Campbell on 28 Feb 2010
More Mischief - Hartley TS16. Crown Series Bellerive Regatta Andrea Francolini Photography
http://www.afrancolini.com/
The smallest and oldest yacht in the fleet, a Hartley TS16, home-built in Wynyard 21 years ago, today won the Trailable Yacht State championship sailed on Hobart's River Derwent as part of the Crown Series Bellerive Regatta.
Wynyard Yacht Club members Mike Darby and Garney Shepherd sailed Darby's TS16, More Mischief, through 25-28 knot southerly winds and steep waves on Saturday and northerly winds of 20 knots, gusting to 30 knots today, to win
four of the five races under the Trailable Yacht CBH rated handicaps.
Under PHS (Performance) arbitrary handicaps they won the first three races but with handicaps adjusted for today's races placed only 12th and 11th to finish second overall, just one point behind Hobart Priscilla (John Dryden).
The TS16 was designed in 1965 by New Zealand Richard Hartley as a build-it-your-self wooden boat that could be towed behind a family car and also used as a live-aboard sailing caravan. Hundreds have been built in New
Zealand and Australia and have been followed by many more larger and faster designs built of fibreglass.
'I built this boat at home 21 years ago and she is still a most competitive racing boat,' Darby said at the end of the Crown Series which attracted more than 210 keelboats, trailable yachts, sports boats, skiffs and dinghies from
around the Tasmania, which entries also from NSW and Victoria.
'Garney and I have been sailing against each other for 40 years in Cherubs and 470s and have been racing together on More Mischief for the past five years,' he added. Darby attributed their success to always getting good starts in clear air and good tactical sailing. He and Shepherd also showed good seamanship in handling the heavy conditions on Saturday when other trailable yachts struggled in the weather.
In another success for north-west coast yachts, Scott Creedon's Thompson 8 Mustard Cutter from the Mersey Yacht Club won the Sports Boat PHS division by just one point from two Port Dalrymple Yacht Club boats, Pure Blonde
(Mike Widdowson) and Resin Dog (Sam Edmunds).
Mustard Cutter began the series with an eighth place followed by 3-3-1-3 scorecard to clinch victory by just one point from Pure Blonde,
Under the Sports Boat Measurement System (SMS) Resin Dog, a Fred Barrett design recently modified with a new bulb keel and rudder, won on a countback from the Tamar Yacht Club boat Excel (Stuart McDonnell). Both th
finished the five race series on 8 points, Resin Dog scoring two first places to Excel's single win. Pure Blonde placed third and Mustard Cutter fourth under the SMS scoring.
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