Lou Abraham's Sydney 38 Challenge takes the honours in Geelong

by Teri Dodds on 19 Sep 2010 With five wins out of a possible nine races, it was a dominant performance by Lou Abraham's team on his boat, Challenge. They took out the Morris Finance Sydney 38 Regatta, with 16 points clearing away from their rivals yesterday Clockwork Orange who finished in second place with 22 points. Andrew Mollison's Sierra Chainsaw crept up into third on 25 points.

Lou was unfortunately absent for today's race as the conditions were predicted to be another chilly day on Corio Bay, in Geelong, which is tough on the octagenerian . Though winds were lighter at 10-12 knot from the SSW, the fleet managed to get in another four races to complete a full series. Race Officer Greg Sinclair was pleased saying ‘I've never been able to run a complete series as September is normally too windy and a blow out is common.'

Clockwork Orange didn't quite emulate their success from yesterday, as some costly errors happened on the track.

In race 7, they came into the bottom mark bareheaded, as the headsail could not be hoisted, it was caught in the track. On board was Quantum Sails David Eickemeyer who noted that ‘as one of their slip ups today that cost them.'

However, Clockwork's owner's Gordon Mather and Frank McDermott were very proud of their efforts.

Mather commented ‘We've had the boat for two years and campaigned it well over winter and at Sandringham, where they have a mentoring program. We have been coached by Sam Haines (Ullman Sails) and more recently David Eickermeyer, where they have helped us with start procedures, and tweaking for those 1 percent gains. It's great and we look forward to the Nationals in Geelong in 2011.'

Unlike yesterday, where general and individual recalls occurred from each start, today was more conservative with all four races with clear starts.

Definitely some serious racing, indicative in the final results, which can be viewed at www.rgyc.com.au.

More images can be viewed online at www.teridodds.com shortly.