Crown Series Bellerive Regatta - SB3 Tasmanian Championship overall

by Peter Campbell on 27 Feb 2012 Crown Series Bellerive Regatta was held on Hobart’s River Derwent over the weekend. Nick Rogers has added another podium finish to an illustrious summer of sailing, winning the SB3 Tasmanian Championship conducted as part of the Regatta.

Since January he has won the Prince Philip Cup Australasian Championship for the International Dragon class and third in the Australian Championship for the high-performance SB3 class.

The Crown Series Bellerive Regatta finished in half a gale as a hot northerly wind swept down the Derwent Valley reaching 32 knots on the main harbour where the big yachting fleet was racing.

Several SB3s suffered sail and gear damage, as did the sports boats and trailable yachts sailing on the same mid-river course.

One sports boat, Pure Blonde, managed to wrap its mainsail around the bowsprit of the finishing boat as it was attempting to cross the line, with disastrous results for the sail and the boat’s results in that race.

Rogers, helming Toll Shipping scored five straights wins until gear damage saw him finish third in heat six, that race going to Hypertronics (Stephen Catchpool),

Rogers did not compete in heat seven, the final race of the series on Sunday afternoon.

In fact, only two boats braved the strong breeze and choppy waters, with Wedgewood (David Graney) winning from Nest Property (Patrick Copeland).

Final results of the SB3 State championship, confirmed today, saw Toll Property first on 17 points, Wedgewood on 19 points and Nest Property on 28 points.

The Sports boats championship was reduced to five races, with the narrow-hulled Stealth (John Herbert) dominating results under both the SMS (Sports Measurement System) and PHS scoring.

Stealth won all five races, including being the only finisher in the last race. The fleet had been cut to three boats by the dismasting of Fang to the Max and damage to Ellusive on the first day of racing.

Stealth finished with 4 points in SMS scoring, Pure Blonde (Mike Widdowson) taking second place on a countback from WA Cromarty Engineering (Steve Harrison) after both finished with nine points. The results were the same in PHS.

The Trailable Yachts State championship attracted nine entries from around Tasmania and ended with just two points separating the top three boats,

John Dryden’s Priscilla won the CBH series with two wins and two seconds and a discard non-start in the strong winds of the fifth race which saw only three finishers.

Priscilla finished with six points, with second place going to John Penman’s Femme Fatale on seven points and Richard Grant’s Kari on eight points. Femme Fatale also won two races with Kari the other heat winner.

Under PHS scoring, Kari won the Trailables series on a countback from Priscilla, both finishing on 7.5 points. Femme Fatale placed third on eight points.

Kari and Priscilla each won a race outright and dead-heated in a second on corrected time.

Octopussy, skippered by Danny Cunningham, won the final race in which only three boats finished.

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