Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Winter Series - Langman v. Langman

by Di Pearson on 19 May 2013 Pete Langman today defeated his record-holding ocean racing father Sean in Race 4 of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Winter Series sailed on Sydney Harbour.

Sailing three modernised Thunderbirds, individually skippered by Pete, his father Sean and a workmate, Shaun McKnight, the three were gearing up for another showdown in Division H. Peter Langman (Noakes White), gave dad, Sean (Noakes Red), and Pete’s Noakes boss McKnight (Noakes Blue), what is proverbially known in sailing as a ‘pasting’.

'It was a good day,' Pete, whose crew is made up of work mates and friends, said amid laughter.

Sean Langman, who this year sailed his 60 foot trimaran to a passage speed record between Sydney and Hobart and is a Rolex Sydney Hobart regular, leads Division H by one point from Pete. Having won the opening two races of the annual series, Sean admitted, 'Yeh, he thrashed us,' after Pete sailed to 10 minute corrected win over his two foes.

'It was unreal to beat Dad after all his bragging for the last four weeks; and Shaun, who’s my boss at Noakes,' Pete admitted. 'We beat them because we sailed really well. Our communication was good and we didn’t make any mistakes,' added Pete, who said he was sorely tempted to 'give Dad some sailing tips.'

McKnight, whose best effort to-date is a second in Race 2, finished seventh today (for seventh overall in the series), one place behind Sean, after the two battled it out to the end, to finish four seconds apart on corrected time.

Although the breeze faded slightly, it still amounted to the best breeze yet since the onset of the series on this warm and sunny day, as Principal Race Officer Robyn Morton let the112 boat fleet loose to sail the full course in a west-south-westerly shifty breeze.

The sun dappled the water with silver spots that sparkled like diamonds, while the bright coloured spinnakers dotted Sydney Harbour from Rushcutters Bay to Manly as the fleet sailed the first downwind run on the first lap of the course.

As the day warmed up, the sun burnt off the breeze later in the race from twelve to eight knots, but unperturbed, sailors in the 13 divisions continued to enjoy their day in the sun, only too aware that the alternative at this time of year could be bitterly cold westerlies and rain, with less breeze.

While Pete Langman achieved his mission, Andrew York, sailing his new boat, Tachyon in Division E this Winter Series, is on a mission of his own. Striking out for his second consecutive win today, he is just five points off the lead and one behind second place.

York is skippering the new VX One, Tachyon, this season. He is hoping he can enthuse sports boats tragics with this new design. Today’s south to west-south-west winds that averaged out at 8-12 knots, proved the perfect potion for York and his boat.

'Our masthead kite helped us to keep Carats N Kilos (a Hick 30) and Orbit (a Shaw 10) at bay,' York said of the boat he recently imported into Australia.

'I really want to show it off. It’s wide with a light keel and just under six metres. It sails like a dinghy. When the breeze picks up it gets up and planes – it’s pretty quick for a 19 foot boat. I’ve done 24 knots with it,' said York, who is keen for anyone interested in buying a new sports boat to come and sail a race in the Winter Series with him.

A third generation of York family sailors, Andrew is the son of sailing legend Mick York OAM and Jeannette. Jeannette was the first female member to have CYCA Life Membership bestowed on her, while her father Merv Davey, was one of the founders of the CYCA and one of its first Life Members. Andrew keeps up the family tradition, with victories in various classes.

Another happy winner today was Geoff Lavis, a long term CYCA member and past commodore, who claimed the spoils in Division A1. 'The wind suited us today and we had a pretty clear run the whole way round the course,' the South Coast yachtsman said of his Inglis/Murray 50, UBS Wild Thing.

'We made all the right sail choices. We carried our Code Zero for the long downwind leg to Manly and changed to the number 1 heavy for the beat back up the Harbour – we got it spot-on,' a pleased Lavis told.

Lavis and his crew still have a bit of work to do though; they are currently eighth overall, with series leader, H/H Equinox II, ahead by 14 points.

'I guess we’ll thrash it out with the other big boats to find the winner,' Lavis said, 'but we had a wonderful day and it was good to get a first place. We got up to the leaders early and managed to maintain,' he admitted of the day which has so far produced the best winds of the series.

Colin and Denise Wilson (Never A Dull Moment) were the lucky recipients of the weekly prize donated by Noakes of one lift and two laydays at its boatyard.

Other winners today were: Swish (Steven Proud) Division A2; Kerisma (Grant Dawson/Brent Lawson) Division B; Assassin (Clare Crawford); Division C, Reve (Kevin Whelan); Division D, Scarlett O’Hara (Robert Skol); Division F; L’Eau Co. (Grant Pollock); Division G, Out of Sight (Matt Wilkinson); Division J1 Europa (David Mason) Division J2, L’Attitude (Jon Short); Division K, Jublilee (Ian Arthy); Sydney 38, Hidden Agenda (Graham Gibson).