Vanuatu, Mooloolaba, CYCA winter series and a surprise announcement

by Rob Kothe & the Sail-World Team on 7 Jul 2014 2014 Melbourne to Vanuatu Race - Tasmanian yacht Alive, the Reichel/Pugh 66, which previously raced as Black Jack this morning smashed the race record for the 1885 nautical mile ocean race across the South Pacific from Melbourne to Port Vila, the port capital of the tropical islands of Vanuatu.

Owned by Phillip Turner and skippered by Duncan Hine, both members of Hobart’s Derwent Sailing Squadron, Alive crossed the finish line off Port Vila at 10:22:45am (Australian Eastern Standard time) for a record-breaking elapsed time of five days 23 hours 52 minutes and 45 seconds. She slashed the record of seven days 17 hours 06 minutes and 00 seconds set by the Sydney yacht Andrew Short Marine, a Volvo 60, in the inaugural Melbourne to Vanuatu race in 2006.

Sydney to Mooloolaba Yacht Race 2015 - MHYC has announced Wednesday 25th March 2015 as the date for the start of the next Sydney to Mooloolaba race. The 468nm race for both monohull and multihull entries. The monohulls will race under Category 2 safety regulations while safety requirements for the multihulls are yet to be confirmed.

Land Rover CYCA Winter Series 2014 - the final round was sailed on the weekend and Rob and Sue Segaert’s Beneteau Sense 46 Santé, the winner of Division J1, was the lucky recipient of the Noakes Group Lift and Stand Package.

Land Rover Winter Series Divisional Winners: Division A1 – Victoire (Darryl Hodgkinson); Division A2 – Kirribilli (Adrian Abbott); Division B –
Ariel (Ron Forster and Phil Damp); Division C – Akela (Alan Mather); Division D – Alpha Carinae (Damian Barker); Division E – Orbit (Matthew Brown); Division F – L’Eau
Co. (Grant Pollock); Division G – Itchy (Will Northam and Jamie Watson); Division J1 – L’Attitude (Robert Hunt, Jon Short and Miles Bastick); Division J2 – Nemesis
(Jeffery Taylor) and Division K – LuLu Belle (Peter Lewis).

The 2014 Australian Secondary Schools Teams Racing Championship, after four days of competition, Christ Church Grammar School of Western Australia has taken out the
Championships for the second time in the last five years. The Semi Finals saw teams from four different states compete – with St Joseph’s coming in second.

Captain Lachlan Gilmour alongside Max Guidice has equalled the school record for Championship wins. Gilmour’s older brother, Sam, sailed alongside Lachlan and Max, when the team that last won in 2008.

Yachting Australia, last week announced the resignation of their long serving CEO Phil Jones after more than 17 years. He leaves Yachting Australia in excellent shape.

Beyond the domestic scene, Phil was a key member of the ISAF) Events Committee for 10 years. He chaired the ISAF Olympic Commission in 2010 and their report, of which he was the driving force and author has had a major impact on the direction of Olympic sailing.

Sail-World has worked a lot with Phil over the years, we respect his vision and his drive and we are sure that another major Olympic sport will be proudly announcing a high level appointment in the days to come.

Thanks mate, sailing worldwide, owes you big time. Now hopefully you can help Australia improve its Olympic medal chances in another key sport. We will watch with interest.