Quantum Racing victory at Docklands Invitational

by Di Pearson on 28 Jan 2007 Sydney yachtsman Ray Roberts, the recently announced Ocean Racer of the Year, claimed victory in the inaugural Docklands Invitational Series at Skandia Geelong Week after the 20 invited yachts contested their final race today.

Competing against some of Australia’s most outstanding ocean racing yachts at the Docklands’ Waterfront City, Roberts and his well melded crew from Sydney sailed Quantum Racing, a Cookson 50 to a five point win over Victorian Graeme Troon’s Reichel/Pugh 46 XLR8 in the five race no drop series.

A further two points away was XLR8’s sistership Hardys Secret Mens Business owned and skippered by South Australia’s Geoff Boettcher, who yesterday was named the overall winner of the Audi Series at Skandia Geelong Week. It made a great result with the top three coming from different States.

Late night celebrations perhaps slowed the Hardys crew down. They were lucky to finish third in the final race to capture third overall after losing control of their spinnaker in the blustery conditions of up to 30 knots. 'We were a bit tired today after celebrating our win and it’s been a big week of racing for everyone; the conditions over the past two days have slowed most of us down,' Boettcher said referring to winds that peaked at 30 knots both yesterday and today.

For Cruising Yacht Club of Australia member Roberts the win was sweet, particularly as he only took delivery of the Cookson 50 in late December, with the crew still learning to sail the new boat.

'We really enjoyed the Dockland series, particularly as it was sailed in all strengths of breezes. Prior to coming here, we have been heavy weather racing in Sydney at the Rolex Trophy and Sydney Hobart race – our first two regattas with this boat.

'In retrospect, those series’ were important for us here, because it has blown hard and we’ve been ready and getting good starts and spinnaker sets and drops; sailing downwind in hard conditions.

'My crew sailed superbly – they made few mistakes. It was a bit of a war of attrition on the course. Like most, we broke gear – we broke our main outhaul and that cost us early on. At the end of the day, the series came down to who was best prepared and who made the least mistakes.'

Roberts also said: 'It was very good to win the inaugural Docklands Invitational; I hope it grows into an important part of the offshore calendar, especially when it has such big sponsors as Skandia and Audi behind it.'

Others racing at the inaugural event included multiple prize winning Lou Abrahams’ Challenge, two time Sydney Hobart winner Ausmaid, former Skandia Geelong Week and Sailing South Week winner Goldfinger (then called Ichi Ban), Flirt which just finished second on countback to Hardys Secret Mens Business in the Audi Series and Grant Wharington’s super maxi Skandia.

The series, organised by Royal Geelong Yacht Club, was held as part of an expanded Skandia Geelong Week and came down to the wire with the winner only decided in today’s final race.

Skandia Geelong Week is an historic sporting event, hosting 110 races across many classes. In another record year, 448 boats participated with approximately 4500 sailors. An estimated 100,000 visitors came to Geelong this year enjoying racing and the shore side entertainment.

For more on the Docklands Invitational visit: www.docklandsinvitational.com.au