Derwent River Bridge Race a great success

by Peter Campbell on 24 Mar 2012 Derwent River Bridge Race, organised by Derwent Sailing Squadron, was held today, Saturday 24th March 2012. The innovative new race, from Castray Esplanade up the River Derwent, under the Tasman Bridge and up to the Bowen Bridge and return, is likely to become a permanent event on Hobart’s yachting calendar.

A fleet of 27 yachts, ranging from J24s to Farr 40s, contested the inaugural 10 nautical mile Derwent River dash with race officials, skippers and crew members all enthusiastic about the event.

'It was a tricky race, firstly sailing through the spans of the Tasman Bridge, then having to cope with the fresh winds that swung from south-west to north-west during the afternoon,' Commodore Ron Bugg said after the race.

'It was a great success, however, requiring tactical decisions, smart steering and fast crew work,' he added.

Even Andrew Hunn, skipper of Voodoo Chile, was enthusiastic about the race, despite shredding a spinnaker in a sharp gust that hit the Farr 40 as she sailed under the Tasman Bridge on the way up the river.

Although the crew quickly hoisted another spinnaker, the incident cost Voodoo Chile the lead and, subsequently line honours, which went to rival Farr 40, War Games, skippered by Wayne Banks-Smith.

David Taylor’s modified Sydney 36, Pisces, sailed an outstanding race in winning both the PHS and AMS categories in Division 1. In the PHS scoring, Pisces won corrected time from War Games and Hot August Night ((Nat Morgan).

In AMS scoring, Pisces won from Colin Denny’s The Protagonist and War Games.

Greg Rowling’s J24, Another Toy, continued its successes with an outright win in Division 2, narrowly beating Grizzly Adams (Joel Bultman) and Take Five (Ian Gannon).

So far this season, Rowlings has won the State championship for the International J24 class and its division in The Showdown Regatta, the Crown Series Bellerive Regatta and the Royal Hobart Regatta.

The DSS Sprint Series for the SB3 sports boats yesterday produced close racing over four heats for the nine boat fleet, with Toll Shipping (Nick Rogers) winning the scratch series by just half a point from Nest Property (Peter Copeland). Third place went to Wedgewood (David Graney).

Toll Shipping also won the handicap series from Mind Games (Peter Reid0 and Ciao Baby III (Steve Chau).