Newcastle to Port Stephens Yacht Race - Emphatic win for Iota

by Richard Howard on 15 Apr 2013 In the 2013 Auto Advantage Newcastle to Port Stephens Yacht Race, modified Farr 40 OD Iota (John McNamara) has punched well above her weight to take line honours and PHS.

Following a short delay in the harbour the fleet were ushered offshore for a start off Stockton beach due to variable breeze in the Hunter River. The start gun fired with ‘clear start’ announced to a gentle eight knots Nor-westerly. Without a cloud in the sky the question on everyone’s mind, especially the Race Committee’s, was for how long was the gradient breeze going to hold. As the yachts settled in to a tight spinnaker reach up Stockton Bight tacticians were hard at work deciding whether to take the ‘high road’ along the breakers in an attempt to stay in the morning Westerly for longer or the ‘low road’ in anticipation of a light NE sea breeze building through the North.

As the 36 yacht fleet approached the Northern end of Stockton Bight the breeze started to swing to the NE however rather than rotating through the North it surprisingly swung through the South allowing those yachts inshore to consolidate on their positions by sailing hotter spinnaker angles up the beach to Birubi Point. With the final 10 miles of the race to the Point Stephens finish gate being a light upwind work the fleet ‘rocked hopped’ along the Port Stephens coastline in an attempt to get relief form the Southerly current and stay in best pressure.

Iota finished the race in four hours and 21 minutes with Swish (Steven Proud) and Nine Dragons (Bob Cox) rounding out the podium Line Honours places. On PHS Iota took a convincing win from Secret Men’s Business (Rob Curtis) and Nine Dragons while on IRC Secret Men’s Business took the honour with Nine Dragons and Tow Truck (Anthony Paterson) taking second and third, respectively.

As the reminder of the fleet edged up past Fingal Bay and across the finish line there appeared to be smiles all round from the crews who enjoyed a tactical battle, glorious weather and some great socialising at NCYC on the Saturday evening and Sunday morning prior to the race commencing.

Interestingly, of the 36 entrants in this year’s Auto Advantage Newcastle Port Stephens Yacht Race nine yacht clubs were represented indicating the broad appeal of the race and the Sail Port Stephens regatta for yacht owners. With the majority of the fleet competing in Sail Port Stephens there will no doubt be plenty more battles on the water and socialising off the water over the coming days.

Race 1   (14/04/2013)  Race Sponsor: Auto Advantage

Updated:  14/04/2013  17:19:19

PHS results
Place	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	Elapsd	ETOrd	AHC	Cor'd T	BCH	CHC	From
1	6838	Iota	J McNamara	04:21:33	1	1.052	04:35:09	1.323	1.078	LMYC
2	8300	Secretmensbusiness 1	R Curtis	04:33:47	4	1.112	05:04:27	1.264	1.140	RPAYC
3	18889	Nine Dragons	B Cox	04:29:40	3	1.140	05:07:25	1.283	1.168	MHYC
4	M6	Tow Truck	A Paterson	05:22:15	14	0.966	05:11:18	1.074	0.990	LMYC
5	226	Swish	S Proud	04:23:37	2	1.190	05:13:42	1.313	1.220	MHYC
6	AUS5077	Long Time Dead	M Fensom	04:54:26	6	1.085	05:19:28	1.175	1.108	NCYC
7	N40	One For The Road	K Butler	05:08:36	10	1.048	05:23:25	1.121	1.066	NCYC
8	USA40063	Pt 73	T Lobb	04:51:22	5	1.112	05:24:00	1.188	1.131	NCYC
9	N349	Schouten Passage	R Howard	05:19:30	13	1.032	05:29:43	1.083	1.045	NCYC
10	236	Skinny Flat White	G Lowe	05:36:17	16	0.981	05:29:54	1.029	0.993	GSC

 

Race 1   (14/04/2013)  Race Sponsor: Auto Advantage

Updated:  14/04/2013  17:19:20

IRC results
Place	Sail No	Boat Name	Elapsd	ETOrd	AHC	Cor'd T	BCH	Skipper	From
1	8300	Secretmensbusiness 1	04:33:47	3	1.164	05:18:41	1.247	R Curtis	RPAYC
2	18889	Nine Dragons	04:29:40	2	1.192	05:21:27	1.266	B Cox	MHYC
3	M6	Tow Truck	05:22:15	10	0.999	05:21:56	1.060	A Paterson	LMYC
4	226	Swish	04:23:37	1	1.240	05:26:53	1.295	S Proud	MHYC
5	N349	Schouten Passage	05:19:30	9	1.038	05:31:38	1.069	R Howard	NCYC
6	N40	One For The Road	05:08:36	7	1.105	05:41:00	1.107	K Butler	NCYC
7	USA40063	Pt 73	04:51:22	4	1.172	05:41:29	1.172	T Lobb	NCYC
8	M3	Close Halled	05:16:51	8	1.084	05:43:28	1.078	G Hall	LMYC
9	5845	Botany Access Cocomo	05:40:58	12	1.036	05:53:14	1.002	J Brownbill	CYCA
10	35000	Next Light	05:41:25	14	1.049	05:58:09	1.000	C Ryan	RPAYC

http://www.ncyc.net.au/results/2013/club/N2PS2013/series.htm" target="_blank">Click here for full results