Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron weekend of sailing

by Alaine Neilson on 30 Oct 2012 The Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron (RQYS) lived up to its reputation as ‘Regatta City’ during the weekend. With windy conditions all weekend, constantly over 20 knots with gusts to 30 knots, it was not sailing for the faint-hearted.

Six regattas were sailed: the Spirit Marine French Yacht Challenge, the Spirit Marine Queensland Beneteau Cup, Farr30, Farr40, Etchells and Sportsboat Saturday. The French national anthem heralded the start of the racing for the French yachts. Neptune took first place in Division 1 and Mayfair placed first in Division 2 of the French Yacht Challenge.

In the Beneteau Cup, the Cruising division had five competitors. Neptune and Euphoria II went into last race on equal points, with Neptune taking the Division 1 regatta with a win in the final race. In Division 2, Tony Kinsman’s Blunderbuss took the regatta comfortably over The Matrix and leads overall.

‘The conditions suited us because Blunderbuss is a yacht that goes well in heavy wind’, said skipper Tony Kinsman.

‘Most of our crew are going in the Sydney to Hobart race and we’ve been in training for a few months. They handled the spinnaker and gybes without fault. Having strong winds on the weekend gives us good preparation and confidence for the Sydney to Hobart.’

‘We took line honours for every race and won the Beneteau Cup on handicap, which was a surprise for us because our handicap is so high we normally don’t get anywhere. But we were pleased with the results’, said Tony.

In the Farr30 race, three boats entered, and enjoyed very close racing with the Queensland champion Goa–Nova being decided only in the last race.

With no drops in the six-race Farr40 regatta there was no room for error – every race counted. Transfusion showed great consistency taking the overall championship. Malcolm Page, 470 gold medal winner at the 2012 London Olympics was on board Kokomo as tactician. Even with a disqualification after a protest in Race 1 Kokomo placed second overall. Estate Master came in third. The battle for instate Queensland champion went down to the wire with Bribie Star getting the championship over Lambourdini with a fourth place in the final race.

The Etchells regatta saw eight boats sail on Saturday and five on Sunday. Matthew Chew in Gen XY dominated with six straight bullets to take out the Series championship.

Ten boats entered the Sportsboat Saturday Series. Jason ‘Goggles’ Ruckert in Mister Magoo took out first in the Series, with Stay Tuned second and Peow Peow third.

Congratulations to the winners and well done to all entrants. There will be more excitement coming up when six RQ yachts enter the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race in December this year. Yachts to watch are: Lunchtime Legend, Ocean Affinity, Kerumba, Carbon Credits, Charlie’s Dream and Blunderbuss.

See results Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron website