Sail Port Stephens - Plenty of action around the track

by Lisa Ratcliff - OCC on 15 Apr 2014 The penultimate day of racing at Sail Port Stephens served up another sou’wester, this time more consistent at 12-15 knots sparking plenty of action around the race track.

Peter Lowndes’ Lyons 49 Wine-Dark Sea turned yesterday’s result around to be declared division 1 winner of the Commodore’s Cup race two, beating Phil Grove’s Huntress by just 27 seconds on corrected time. Lowndes’ results has moved them into the top three on the progressive pointscore while Huntress sits atop the points pile with one race to go.

Third today was Matt Fenson’s modified Farr 40 Long Time Dead which left Port Stephens this afternoon bound for Newcastle and the Audi IRC Australian Championship commencing Thursday and wrapping up Easter Sunday.

There’s a Hawaiian theme on Wine-Dark Sea including a fake palm tree strapped to the stern rail and a set of colourful tropical robes for après sailing. Lowndes reckons they trimmed the tree properly today, a definite advantage, and also a diver scrubbed the boat’s bottom this morning making them slipperier through the water on their 14 nautical mile course around Port Stephens. 'We were shamed into cleaning the boat,' the skipper admitted.

Buying Hawaiian shirts at this time of year isn’t easy but the Wine-Dark Sea crew managed to secure a full set from Lowes which they dutifully change into each afternoon after racing. On the water their attire is sportier, not that it’s been on show much over the past few days. Daily showers have given wet weather gear a good work out. 'God gave us Gortex for a reason,' declared Lowndes this afternoon at the daily prizegiving at Vues.

Tom Woods’ super quick Toy Story was indeed targeted by the handicapper; first yesterday and last in the division 1 fleet today.

In division 2 the smallest entry, Geoff Dilworth’s Dufour 34 Even Finer from Gosford Sailing Club out-sailed the rest of the pack to score first place on handicap. This fine result puts them third overall with one race remaining.

Dilworth said nailing the start off the d’Albora Marina wall at Nelson Bay set up the win. He’s campaigning with wife and co-owner, Penny, and daughter Kim among the crew of six. Son Stephen was aboard for the Pantaenius Port Stephens Trophy. Sailing master Graham Fraser, who represents Dufour, said today’s win has given Geoff plenty of confidence and a great attitude to tackle tomorrow’s deciding race.

Even Finer beat Inception and Peter Lewis’ Lu Lu Belle, another crew with a penchant for Hawaiian shirts. On the division 2 series scoresheet, Len Payne’s Lidgard 10.6 Kerinda is three points clear of Dennis Cooper’s Sydney 36cr Amante from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.

The forecast for the last day of competition at Sail Port Stephens is for another southerly air flow.
Sail Port Stephens is proudly supported by the NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW.

Commodores Cup Cruising

Hosted By Corlette Point Sailing Club

Provisional Results

Updated:  15/04/2014  13:46:29

Series Results [EHC DIV1] up to Race 2

Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 2	Race 1
1	2R	888	HUNTRESS	Philip Grove	RSYS	6.0	2.0	4.0
2		6834	BREAKTHROUGH	Bryony Gregory	CYCA	6.0	4.0	2.0
3	1.0S	6188	WINE-DARK SEA	Peter Lowndes	RSYS/CYCA	11.0	1.0	10.0
4		AUS5077	LONG TIME DEAD	Matthew Fensom	NCYC	11.0	3.0	8.0
5	1.0S	M102	TOY STORY	Thomas Woods	LMYC	12.0	11.0	1.0
6		67	COLORTILE	Warren& Kristy Bucha	CSC&RMYC	12.0	7.0	5.0
7	3.0S	1014	UBS WILD THING	Geoff Lavis	CYCA	13.0	10.0	3.0
8		33345	BLACK SHEEP	Derek & Martin Shepp	WYC	13.0	6.0	7.0
9		6636	AL FRESCO	Dave Griffin	RMYC	14.0	5.0	9.0
10		8009	OCC. COARSE LANG ONE	Robert Alder	RPAYC	15.0	9.0	6.0
11		35000	NEXT LIGHT	Mark Rutherford	RPAYC	20.0	8.0	12.0
12		8834	CONCEALED WEAPON	Barry Kelly	NCYC	25.0	14.0S	11.0
13		4100	THE BANSHEE	Corinne & Rob Franci	CSC	28.0	14.0S	14.0S

(Ties: S=Score R=Race B= Bettered. Penalties: A=ARB B=BFD C=DNC D=DNE E=ESP F=DNF G=RDG I=DPI L=Late Entrant M=DGM N=ENP O=OCS P=Protest Q=DSQ R=RET S=DNS T=TLE U=DUT V=AVG X=EXC Z=ZFP Y=SCP #=NoData [x.y]=Discarded)

Provisional Results

Updated:  15/04/2014  13:46:29

Series Results [EHC DIV2] up to Race 2

Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 2	Race 1
1		5708	KERINDA	Len Payne	RMYCT	5.0	4.0	1.0
2		6609	AMANTE	Dennis Cooper	CYCA	8.0	6.0	2.0
3		6740	EVEN FINER	Geoff Dilworth	GSC	9.0	1.0	8.0
4	2.0S	6940	INCEPTION	John Sprague	GSC	12.0	2.0	10.0
5		500	ANTIPODES OF SYDNEY	Greg Newton	CYCA	12.0	9.0	3.0
6		6571	PASSION	David Edmiston	GFS	14.0	5.0	9.0
7	3.0S	6593	LU LU BELLE	Peter Lewis	MHYC	17.0	3.0	14.0
8		6942	ACCOUNTABILITY	Murray Thompson	RMYC-BB	17.0	10.0	7.0
9		3267	IN THE MOOD	Keith Masters	RMYCBROKENBAY	19.0	8.0	11.0
10	5.0S	MYC7	TENSIXTY	Ian Green	MYC	21.0	16.0	5.0
11		42	SMOOTH CRIMINALS	Ray Harley	PSYC	21.0	15.0	6.0
12		380	NEGOTIATOR	Wayne Taylor	WYC/SASC	22.0	18.0	4.0
13		6767	BIG BLUE	Stephen Phillips	WYC	24.0	12.0	12.0
14		M15	GETAWAY	Philip Martin	SLMASC	26.0	13.0	13.0
15		6906	BANDALENI	Greg Kowalski	ASC	29.0	14.0	15.0
16		M473	YESDEAR	Michael Paull	LMYC	30.0	7.0	23.0F
17		6391	ETERNITY	Ian Meldrum	GFS	34.0	11.0	23.0O
18		6986	AURORA II	Marcus Gillezeau	MHYC	40.0	17.0	23.0O
19		HULL01	SOUTHPAW	Bruce Williams	NCYC	42.0	19.0	23.0F
20		SB445	LUNACY	Chris McSorley	SBYC	46.0	23.0S	23.0S
20		6726	HECTOR	Andrew Hawkins	CYCA	46.0	23.0S	23.0C
20		6782	THAT BOAT	Darryle Dransfield	RMYCBB	46.0	23.0S	23.0S

(Ties: S=Score R=Race B= Bettered. Penalties: A=ARB B=BFD C=DNC D=DNE E=ESP F=DNF G=RDG I=DPI L=Late Entrant M=DGM N=ENP O=OCS P=Protest Q=DSQ R=RET S=DNS T=TLE U=DUT V=AVG X=EXC Z=ZFP Y=SCP #=NoData Sail Port Stephens