Bumpy Conditions to test 38’s mettle

by Simon Reffold on 18 Mar 2005 With the fresh Southerly currently buffeting the Sydney Coast forecast to continue over the weekend, albeit a little less wild and woolly, the 18 Sydney 38 One Designs contesting the Palm Beach Regatta this Saturday and Sunday will have plenty on with a lovely choppy seaway playing havoc with steering techniques and trim.

It’s not the wind speed that will be an issue – but after a lovely spell of flat water sailing at the Nationals in Geelong and the recent Harbour Regatta most of the crews are lacking in offshore technique – and looking at the ocean right now, they are going to need plenty of it!

However, many of the teams have put together top notch crews – past Olympians, with a raft of medals between them will include; Nicky Bethwaite, Bobby Wilmot, Steve McConaghy, Tom King and Michael Blackburn as well as sail makers such as Mark Fullerton from Doyle Fraser Sails and Gary Geitz as well as AC aspirant and Match Racing champion Michael Dunstan and AC Campaigner Campbell Knox.

Add these to the already impressive and proven Sydney 38 Sailors like John Sheehan, Brett Ellis and Roger Perrett and you have a veritable who’s who of sailing out there this weekend.

So, with all this talent aboard – who looks like they can actually do the business on the water?

To start with, we have two new additions to the fleet. Outlaw (Tom and Alan Quick, CYCA) and 6211 (Guido Belgiorno-Nettis, MHYC).

Guido has bought the old Cydon and sailing master Bobby Wilmot has kept many of the old band together as well as some great new talent – the boat has an excellent pedigree and should be up there.

Tom and Alan’s crew is a veritable who’s who but maybe they lack a little time on the water in terms of rig tune and crew work.

However, with the depth they have, expect to see them feature.

Traditional friendly rivals Estate Master (Martin & Lisa Hill, MHYC), Acuity (Tony Walls, RPAYC), Shining Sea (Steve Kulmar, RPAYC) and London Tavern (Justin Lambeth, RPAYC) will all be battling out at the top of the pack.

All these guys have a good handle on steering in a seaway – hard to separate them at this early stage.

You’d have to expect to see AMI Jade (Peter McNamara, MHYC), The Business (Grant Halliday, RPAYC), Calibre (Geoff Bonus, CYCA), Risk (Chris & Geoff Payne, RPAYC) all do well too – possibly better than normal as this is their specialty sailing.

Easy Tiger (Chris Way, RPAYC), Stonybroke (Robin Tedder, MHYC) and Eye Candy (Gavin Ward and Chris Dawson, RPAYC) are all seasoned players – this could well be their chance to shine especially if the conditions are testing of crew work where they all excel.

Finally and by no means least, are Uncensored (Chris Lobb, MHYC), Zen (Gordon Ketelbey, MHYC), The Bigger Picture (TBP Syndicate), Conspiracy (Peter Byford, RPAYC) and The Bolter (Rick Welch, RPAYC).

We know there has been some background work going on with these guys with rig development, some new sails and plenty of training.

So this weekend the metaphorical covers will come off their winged keels and we’ll see how the fruits of their labours transfer onto the racetrack.

Racing for the 38’s gets underway at 1200 off the Palm Beach circle and you’ll find all the updates and results at www.sail-world.com.