McKay family clean up in Tasmania’s MacIntyre Cup Regatta for Mirrors

by Grant Atherton on 17 Dec 2013 The McKay family had a great weekend at the annual MacIntyre Cup Regatta for Mirror Class Dinghies sailed on the River Derwent from the Kingston Beach Sailing Club on the 7th-8th December. Marcus MacKay sailed Sky III to overall victory with Luka Smillie crewing for him. Daughter Ishka McKay crewed for Mirror stalwart and recently inducted Yachting Tasmania Hall of Fame member Jenny Graney in Carpe Diem who came second overall and his son Jai McKay sailing with Ruby Smillie, won the Junior category in the borrowed Foxy Lady III.

Jai’s win was fortunate on two counts, as he originally entered as a co-skipper with Quentin Hunt, the owner of Foxy Lady III, which would have deemed them ineligible for the Junior category. There were only two races on the second day which Jai couldn’t compete in. Had the scheduled eighth race been held, Jai would have had to count a DNC which may well have cost him the Junior title.

Jenny and Ishka sailed brilliantly on day one finishing the day only one point behind Sky III with these two boats sharing all of the first day's heat wins between them. Behind these two was a red hot battle for third place on the podium between Ken Barnes and Alex Kingsley in Store Fresh (who gave a well received talk on their recent trip to the Mirror World championships in Ireland), 'super cruiserweights' Grant Atherton sailing his daughter’s Kamikaze with Finlay Cooper (weighing in at over 140kgs combined crew weight), and reigning Australian Youth Champion Max Davey in Xcel-Erate with Callum O’Sign crewing.

At the briefing on day one, PRO Peter Gore warned of possible strong winds on the second day and therefore announced his intentions to get as many races as possible on the Saturday. This turned out to be a good strategy as gusts up to 41 knots were recorded by 2:00 PM on the Sunday, by which stage the Mirrors were all packed up, after Peter decided wisely that seven heats was enough, with no possible change between first and second place at that stage, with Jenny’s history of heavy weather injuries leading to her decision not to start in Race 7. Completing seven races also allowed for the second drop to come in.

Conditions on day one ranging from light around five knots with everyone keeping their weight well forward but with a large left over swell which did allow some down wind surfing, up to around 10 knots in the afternoon. Day two lived up to forecast predictions with some huge gusts testing crews, with some less experienced crews electing to stay safely on the beach and watch the action from the club house. In an attempt to convince the PRO that conditions were manageable, the Kamikaze boys headed out early and got their kite up and sailed past the start boat trying to look totally under control with wide smiles on their faces (at the time the boat was filling up with water surging up the centreboard slot faster then the venturis could drain it!).

Sky III wrapped up the regatta in race 6 with their fourth race win while the heavier conditions resulted in Carpe Diem having their worst result so far with a fifth and deciding to sit out any further races, as even if race 8 had been held, their points lead over third place contenders was large enough to ensure second. Race 7 saw a new winner with Store Fresh liking the heavier conditions to win from Kamikaze and Xcel-Erate, with Sky III maybe in boat preservation mode having already wrapped up the overall win in the sixth race coming home fourth. The race 7 win gave Store Fresh third overall on a count back from Kamikaze, with another two points to Xcel-Erate in fourth overall.

Sisters Molly and Lilly Hulton making their first outing for the season in Star Bellied Sneetch did well in the heavy conditions of race 7 to finish the race, but had a serious amount of water in the boat as they returned to shore. Simon and Claire Edwards in the whimsically half finished paint job in Jolly Roger had a consistent series to finish sixth overall.

It was great to see a strong turnout from the north of Tasmania, with Scotch Oakburn College students presenting a real team appearance around the club in their sports uniforms. The northerners did well on handicap, with Chloe Jones helming Foxy Lady II (not a misprint as we had both FL II and FL III competing side by side) with Nicole Erwin and Yaya Mackeddie sharing the crewing role taking out the handicap honours from Sky III and Max Davey and Callum O’Sign in Xcel-Erate taking a well deserved third on handicap. Jordan Wyle-Browne and Loki Bird in Rear View took out the Rookie award.

Scratch Results
Rank Sail No. Boat Helm Crew
1 67749 Sky III Marcus McKay Luka Smillee
2 68678 Carpe Diem Jenny Graney Ishka McKay
3 70591 Store Fresh Ken Barnes Alex Kingsley
4 69196 Kamikaze Grant Atherton Finlay Cooper
5 69361 Xcelerate Max Davey Callum O'Sign
6 69538 Jolly Roger Simon Edwards Claire Edwards
7 70146 Foxy Lady III Jai McKay Ruby Smillee
8 69844 Star Bellied Sneetch Molly Hulton Lilly Hulton
9 68047 Foxy Lady II Chloe Jones Lewis Ottaway/Yata Mackeddie
10 67759 Dual Force Nicole Erwin Clare Broomby
11 69628 Rear View Jordan Wyle-Browne Loki Bird
12 63762 Quicksilver Amber Tiller Yasmin de Jersey

Handicap Results
Rank Sail No. Boat Helm Crew
1 68047 Foxy Lady II Chloe Jones Nicole Erwin/Yaya Mackeddie
2 67749 Sky III Marcus McKay Luka Smillee
3 69361 Xcelerate Max Davey Callum O'Sign
4 69196 Kamikaze Grant Atherton Finlay Cooper
5 70591 Store Fresh Ken Barnes Alex Kingsley
6 68678 Carpe Diem Jenny Graney Ishka McKay
7 69844 Star Bellied Sneetch Molly Hulton Lilly Hulton
8 69538 Jolly Roger Simon Edwards Claire Edwards
9 70146 Foxy Lady III Jai McKay Ruby Smillee
10 67759 Dual Force Nicole Erwin Clare Broomby/Lewis Ottaway
11 63762 Quicksilver Amber Tiller Yasmin de Jersey
12 69628 Rear View Jordan Wyle-Browne Loki Bird