Hobart Combined Club Harbour Race - Don Calvert ended up in hospital

by Peter Campbell on 15 Mar 2014 Senior Hobart yachtsman Don Calvert ended up in hospital with a dislocated shoulder after his champion yacht Intrigue broke her mast when a 30 knot gust from the north hit the fleet in today’s Combined Club’s Harbour Series on the Derwent.

Calvert and Intrigue had been leading the pointscore in both the AMS and IRC rating categories of Group one going into the penultimate race day, but are now out of contention for a podium finish with just one race day to finish the summer series.

'I must see if the mast is under warranty,' a cheerful Calvert said this evening, resting at home after having had the shoulder re-set at the Royal Hobart Hospital. 'However, the remark from my grandson Angus was ‘we can now get a new carbon fibre mast.’

'I think I must have been hit in the shoulder by a runner block when the mast broke, first at the top, then at the base, and toppled over the bow,' Calvert recalled.

'I’m only glad that no-one else was injured, including my two grandsons Jock and Angus, who were sailing with me today,' the 78-year-old Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania said at home.

An RYCT support vessel picked up the injured Calvert from Intrigue after the dismasting soon after the start the first of two windward/leeward races, taking him to Waterman’s Dock where an ambulance was waiting. After treatment at the RHH he was allowed to go home.

In another incident, yachting photographer Dane Lojek fell overboard while crewing on Wayne Banks-Smith’s Farr 40 War Games before the start of race two for Group one boats. As crew attempted to lift Lojek back on board, a line fouled the yacht’s propeller, forcing her to be a non starter.

With Intrigue out of the racing, the Bellerive Yacht Club boats Host Plus Executive (Jeff Cordell) and Tas Paints (Ian Stewart), both Mumm 36s, are just one point apart in the premier AMS rating category going into the final day of racing on Saturday, March 29.

Host Plus Executive today scored a first and a second in the Harbour windward/leeward race. TasPaints had an identical result.

Under PHS scoring, TasPaints has a five points lead from Host Plus Executive, with Mem (Paul Boutchard) notching up a first and second today on corrected time to be a close third overall.

In Group two, Spare Time (Shane Powell) and Trouble (Dave Willans) are on equal points after today’s two races.

In Group four, only three points separate Eliza (Kevin Jacobson), Chicas (John Lewis) and today’s round the harbour winner Pirate’s Pride (Peter Masterton).

Despite placing ninth on corrected time yesterday, Kindred Spirit (Alastair Douglas) still holds a four point lead in Group six from race winner Innovator (Ian Smith).