Protests, Pointscore battles - BMW Winter Series

by Peter Campbell on 2 Jul 2006 The second last pointscore race in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's 2006 BMW Sydney Winter Series ended with today with protests involving placegetters in two divisions and just a handful of points between the leaders in almost all ten divisions.

The big fleet enjoyed a warm and sunny winter's day on the water and a light to moderate west to southwesterly breeze that faded late in the afternoon. This left many boats just drifting across the line to make the time limit, but others failing to finish.

Pointscore leaders have changed in several divisions, according to provisional results, including Division A where You're Hired, Geoff Morgan and Andrew Banks' Beneteau 47.7 scored a comfortable win today to move just one point ahead of Denis O'Neil's Atomic with one race to go. Still in third place, only two points back, is Dick Cawse's 60-footer Vanguard which finished second today, third going to George Snow's maxi Brindabella.

A second today has strengthened the pointscore lead of Next (R.Hlstein/S.Kellie) in the Sydney 38 Division. Next is three points clear of Estate Master (Martin and Lisa Hill), with Champagne Henriot (Getaway Sailing) third in the pointscore. Today's race went to Calibre (Geoff Bonus) from Next and Blue Chip (Karl Stechman and Peter Mason).

In Division B, Gordon Anderson's Sintara has moved to the top of the leaderboard with a close win today from Mr Beaks Ribs (David Beak) and Pay Station Portable (Dean Harrigan). Sintara now has a three point margin from Nips-n-Tux (Howard de Torres) with Play Station Portable moving up to third overall.

A second place today in Division C has enabled Stephen Roach's Game Set to open up a five-point margin in Division C from Sommerbreeze (Hans Sommer), with today's winner, Bear Necessity (Andrew and Pauline Dally) a close third. Third place today went to Paul Clitheroe's Balance.

Today's race results in Division D are subject to a protest against second placed MRX (Jon Short and Miles Bastick). Provisional first place went to pointscore leader Scarlett O'Hara (Robert Skol) from MRX, third to Time Out (Peter Blair and Ross Gardyne) and fourth to Windflyt (Doug Sturrock). Going into today's ninth race, Scarlett O'Hara led the pointscore from MRX, Windflyt and Time Out.

One of the most consistent boats in the BMW Sydney Winter Series has been Georgia Express (Ian and Jean Guanaria). The boat has yet to finish worse than 6th and today's 3rd has given Georgia Express an eight point margin in Division E, from Tojo Never Made It (Wayne Keavy and Robert Bryden) with another seven points to Supernova (David Bates). Former world 18-footer champion Peter Sorensen sailed his sports boat Vivace through the fleet to win today from Thiswayup (Ray Carless) and Georgia Express.

Results in Division F are also subject to protest. Provisional placings today were Jagged Edge (Leon Ratner) first, Umbakumba (Dawn Murray and David Stenhouse) second and Slingshot (Always Sailing School) third. Pointscore leader Carnaval (Bernie Vant Hof) placed fifth.

In Division G, none of the top four boats on the overall pointscore today finished in the top eight, but this had no effect on the standings. Naughty Call (Greg Watson) still holds a provisional nine point lead from Obsession (Bruce and Neil Tavener) with one point to Lunch on Sunday (Chris Bowling). Today's race went to Carats 'n' Kilos (John Santiford) from Larrikan (R.Glasson and R.Harper), third place to Wirrajurnd (Andy Kearnan and Peter Whitford).

The two top ranking boats in Division J finished first and second today, with overall leader Vivacity, skippered by CYCA director John Walton winning from Wings Three (Paul Billingham), third going to last week's winner Starstruck Daveau, skippered by veteran Ken Davis. Going into next Sunday's final BMW Sydney Winter Series pointscore race, Vivacite leads the pointscore by five points from Wings Three, with an eight point gap to Chancellor (Ted Tooher).

In Division K, Gusto (Phillip Denison) and Hubcap (Herman Heilers) are equal on points after today's race nine in which Hubcap placed second and Gusto third. Winner today was Privateer (Bill Mirow) is fourth in the pointscore behind Quetzal (Brian Clayton), which placed fourth today.