Sail Port Stephens 2014 Day 2 - Four seasons in one day

by Lisa Ratcliff on 12 Apr 2014 At Sail Port Stephens 2014 four seasons in one day perfectly describes day two. Looking around the magnificent bay there were literally microclimates in each corner; dark storm clouds on one side, sunshine on the other and wind ranging from five to near 30 knots late this afternoon when the Pantaenius NSW IRC Championship fleet finally broke out of the stalls in Salamander Bay.

Principal Race Officer Denis Thompson took the IRC fleet offshore this morning as planned, but a gust in the high twenties and updated forecast brought them back inshore. Then they had to find space on a crowded bay with all other divisions standing firm on their patch of water.

Performance Racing completed three short course sprints to the north of Salamander Bay and the MC38s two windward/leewards while Performance Cruising finished the iconic ‘pub to pub’ race from Shoal to Salamander Bay.

It’s busy at the top of Performance Racing division one results with one day remaining. Matthew Fensom’s modified Farr 40 Long Time Dead from Newcastle still leads the division after four races, but flanking them is Thomas Woods’ Farr 36 OD Toy Story from Lake Macquarie, also on 10 points.

The story reads the same in the MC38 division, John Bacon’s Dark Star from Pittwater moving into Kiwi territory, now on equal points and second on a countback to Howard Spencer’s Menace from Royal Akarana Yacht Club after three races.

These boats go subterranean downhill in heavy weather and today Bacon had two feet of water over the deck. 'They are dicey downwind in big breeze so today we stayed conservative and kept mistakes to a minimum,' Bacon recalled. 'I was too scared to look at our running speed but I know it’s the hardest we’ve ever run under kite. The last two years of sailing came together for us.'

The Australian MC38 class is readying for a serious jab in the arm. Four new owners and crew who know a thing or two are soon to join the program and Bacon has amped up his in anticipation.

In the Pantaenius NSW IRC Championship overall pointscore Karl Kwok’s Team Beau Geste has kept Patrice at bay, but the margin is tight, just two points. Tactician on Tony Kirby’s Patrice, Darren Jones, realises a TP52 is going to be hard to beat given they are six foot longer and carry more sail area, plus they plane first when the bullets hit.

'The boys did a good job today,' said Jones. 'We have stepped up the crew with Jason Rowed on jib and spinnaker trim and Barney Walker on main. The way the pressure was pulsing down the track there was some luck involved. Sometimes it was our turn and sometimes it was Beau Geste’s. We’ll take the opportunities when we can.'

Showing they are not to be messed with in light or heavy airs Roger Hickman’s Wild Rose holds its IRC division two lead, now six points clear of L’Altra Donna after two more races in 25 knot average sou’westers punctuated by rain squalls.

Tomorrow is the final day of the three-day Pantaenius Port Stephens Trophy and on Monday April 14 the second stage, the Commodore’s Cup for cruising boats begins. The Bureau of Meteorology has a strong wind warning in place for Hunter Coastal waters for tomorrow, forecasting S-SW 20-30 knots easing to southerly 15-25 knots in the afternoon.

Many of the IRC fleet will head to Newcastle following the completion of their state title for the Audi IRC Australian Championship starting Thursday April 17, 2014.

Sail Port Stephens is proudly supported by the NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW.

Complete Results:
 

NSW IRC Championships

Series Results [IRC Div1] up to Race 4

Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		IVB1997	TEAM BEAU GESTE	Karl Kwok	RHKYC	5.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	2.0
2		360	PATRICE	Tony Kirby	CYCA	7.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	1.0
3	4R	226	SWISH	Steven Proud	MHYC	15.0	3.0	4.0	3.0	5.0T
4		10101	H/H EQUINOX II	Anthony Dunn	CYCA	15.0	4.0	3.0	5.0	3.0
5		11011	ANGER MANAGEMENT	Phil Arnall	NCYC	21.0	5.0	7.0S	4.0	5.0T
6		5200	COUGAR 11	Anthony Lyall	RYCT	28.0	7.0C	7.0S	7.0C	7.0C

Series Results [IRC Div2] up to Race 4

Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		4343	WILD ROSE	Roger Hickman	CYCA	6.0	1.0	2.0	2.0	1.0
2		6935	L'ALTRA DONNA	Andy Kearnan	CYCA	12.0	4.0	3.0	3.0	2.0
3		7771	BALANCE	Paul Clitheroe	CYCA	14.0	2.0	1.0	8.0	3.0
4		8009	OCC. COARSE LANG ONE	Robert Alder	RPAYC	19.0	5.0	4.0	6.0	4.0
5		33345	BLACK SHEEP	Derek & Martin Shepp	WYC	20.0	3.0	6.0	4.0	7.0
6		35135	CROWDED HAUS	Graeme Neuhaus	DSC	22.5	6.5	5.0	5.0	6.0
7		5845	BOTANY ACCESS COCOMO	Justin Brownbill	MHYC	30.0	8.0	7.0	10.0	5.0
8		M136	SPIRIT	Ian Bower	LMYC	32.0	12.0C	9.0	1.0	10.0
9		36111	OUTLANDISH	Chris Heraghty	RPAYC/RM	32.5	6.5	8.0	9.0	9.0
10		16129	WAILEA	Neil Padden	MHYC	34.0	9.0	10.0	7.0	8.0
11		11010	TOMATO	Nigel Smyth	MHYC	48.0	12.0C	12.0S	12.0C	12.0C

Series Results [OD] up to Race 3

Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1	1.0S	38014	MENACE	Howard Spencer	RAYC	6.0	4.0	1.0	1.0
2		38002	DARK STAR	John Bacon	RPAYC	6.0	1.0	2.0	3.0
3		38011	GINGER	Leslie Green	CYCA	9.0	2.0	5.0C	2.0
4		38001	LIGHTSPEED	Jonathan Morris	RPAYC	12.0	3.0	5.0F	4.0

Series Results [EHC Div1] up to Race 4

Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1	1.0S	AUS5077	LONG TIME DEAD	Matthew Fensom	NCYC	10.0	3.0	5.0	1.0	1.0
2		M102	TOY STORY	Thomas Woods	LMYC	10.0	4.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
3		67	COLORTILE	Warren& Kristy Bucha	CSC&RMYC	15.0	1.0	4.0	5.0T	5.0
4		1014	UBS WILD THING	Geoff Lavis	CYCA	17.0	2.0	1.0	8.0F	6.0
5		NZL9242	ORBIT	Matthew Brown	CYCA	18.0	8.0C	3.0	3.0	4.0
6		888	HUNTRESS	Philip Grove	RSYS	24.0	8.0C	8.0C	5.0T	3.0
7		4100	THE BANSHEE	Corinne & Rob Franci	CSC	32.0	8.0C	8.0C	8.0C	8.0C

Series Results [EHC Div2] up to Race 4

Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		401	ALIBI	Barry Jackson	RPAYC	9.0	2.0	1.0	3.0	3.0
2		5708	KERINDA	Len Payne	RMYCT	10.0	1.0	4.0	1.0	4.0
3		8834	CONCEALED WEAPON	Barry Kelly	NCYC	11.0	4.0	2.0	4.0	1.0
4		2608	RAPID TRANSIT	Robert Dempsey	BSC	12.0	3.0	5.0	2.0	2.0
5		6834	BREAKTHROUGH	Bryony Gregory	CYCA	19.0	5.0	3.0	5.0	6.0S