BMW Winter Series Ladies Day Race

by Peter Campbell on 24 Jul 2006 With six days to the start of the Sydney Mooloolaba Yacht Race, Steven David's canting keel 60-footer Wild Joe today showed exceptional light wind speed to spread-eagle the fleet in the BMW Sydney Winter Series Closing Ladies' Day Race on the Harbour.

Helmed by the experienced Learne Dooley, the Reichel/Pugh 60 gave up to 47 minutes start to the front-markers and still won the Spinnaker Division 1 by eight minutes 46 seconds.

Admittedly, Wild Joe had the benefit of having a ten knot north-easterly seabreeze to start in, whereas most of the smaller boats were becalmed as their starting time came and went on the countdown clock on the Starter's Boat.

Her speed to windward was extraordinary, wnning from the Farr 40 Rushcutter, helmed by Anja Thomsen, third place going to another Farr 40, Star, with Christen Short at the wheel.

Wild Joe is one 40 boats entered for the Mooloolaba Race that starts from the Harbour next Saturday, and will continue racing north with ten other boats in the extended passage race to Mackay in Far North Queensland.

Today's final race of another successful BMW Sydney Winter Series was sailed on a sunny day with an unseasonable ten knot nor'easter eventually filling half an too late for the front-markers in the four divisions.

When it did, almost the entire fleet went dashing for the Garden Island mark under spinnakers and poled-out headsails, the result being boats rounding the buoy up to six abreast. However, the ladies on the helm remained cool, calm and collected (if the boat owner's did not!) and no serious bumps were reported.

Nine yachts - including several prominent ones - were disqualified, however, for sailing through the 'gate' on the beat back down the harbour.

Spinnaker Division 2 saw another comfortable winning margin, with Merlin skippered by Sarah Wilmot finishing nearly six minutes clear of the Kookaburra Sailing (Jane Eagger) with another four or so minutes to Martini (Jo Thatcher).

Closest finish of the day was in Non-Spinnaker Division 1 which saw Stickybeak (Sharon Armstrong) hold out Broomstick (Beverley Holt) by just one minute 24 seconds, third place going to Utopia (Pam Fagence).

Miles Bastick, co-owner of MRX, was an embarrassed sailor after his wife Fenella, steered the Farr 36 to a seven minute winning margin in Non-Spinnaker Division 2.

He had nominated Fenella as the helmsperson under her maiden name of O'Brien to save him embarrassment if she had a bad result, according to co-owner Jon Short. 'Now that she has won, he is really embarrassed!'

There was no comment from Miles, as he joined the crew in toasting Fenella back for a fine effort on the helm of MRX in beating Stormy Petrel (helmsperson not advised) and Out of Sight (Lisa Wilkinson).

BMW S WS RESULTS 23.07.06

Spinnaker Division 1
Sail No Yacht Owner / Skipper Start Elapsed Time Finish Place
7002 Wild Joe Learne Dooley 12:47 1:51:33 14:38:33 1
5077 Rushcutter Anja Thomsen 12:26 2:21:19 14:47:19 2
12000 Star Kristen Short 12:26 2:31:05 14:57:05 3

Spinnaker Division 2
Sail No Yacht Owner / Skipper Start Elapsed Time Finish Place
8005 Merlin Sarah Wilmot 12:45 2:51:37 15:36:37 1
55 Kookaburra Sailing School Jane Eagger 12:43 2:59:26 15:42:262
6512 Martini Jo Thatcher 12:38 3:07:50 15:45:50 3

Non Spinnaker Division 1
Sail No Yacht Owner / Skipper Start Elapsed Time Finish Place
5588 Stickybeak Sharon Armstrong 12:30 1:19:20 13:49:20 1
8848 Broomstick Beverley Holt 12:34 1:16:44 13:50:44 2
7600 Utopia Pam Fagence 12:22 1:32:22 13:54:22 3

Non Spinnaker Division 2
Sail No Yacht Owner / Skipper Start Elapsed Time Finish Place
4960 MRX Fenella O'Brien 12:26 1:51:52 14:17:52 1
508 Stormy Petrel TBA 12:20 2:09:01 14:29:01 2
544 Out of Sight Lisa Wilkinson 12:22 2:11:06 14:33:06 3