And the BMW Sydney Winter Series winners are….

by Peter Campbell, CYCA on 14 Jul 2003 Despite winds that swung from the north-west to the south-east during the day, with a dead calm in between, the pointscore leaders in each Division of the BMW Sydney Winter Series managed to maintain their top positions in today’s 10th and final race on the Harbour.

At one stage it looked as if there would be no race, as 160 boats lay becalmed when the nor-wester died away at the end of the first round. However, a light sou’easter slipped in over Rose Bay to give most of the fleet the chance to complete the course.

Nevertheless, there were some upsets among the top boats and their winning margins were slim when the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia calculated the Overall Pointscores.

Aside from the varying breeze, it was a perfect winter’s day on Sydney Harbour, surprisingly warm under a cloudless sky.

The late sou’easter saw some spectacular finishes under shy spinnakers, with just seconds between many boats as crews gybed to take advantage of the port-and-starboard rules nearing the finish line off Point Piper.

The provisional pointscore winners of the 2003 BMW Sydney Winter Series, announced by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia after race 10 are:

Division A – Broomstick (Michael Cranitch and Ray Wallace) by just one point from Magnavox 2UE (Hodder/Gray/Sorensen/Zemanek), third going to the former America’s Cup challenger X Box-Spirit (Steffan Jacob and Iain Murray). Magnavox won the final two races of the Winter Series, but Broomstick had four wins over the series.

Division B – Big Kahuna (Dean Harrigan) by a comfortable nine points from Lady Ann (Sean Kirkjian), a close third being Georgia Express (Ian Guanaria. The top pointscore leaders all finished well down the fleet, with discard races being vital to success.

Division C – A final race second clinched overall first place for Very Tasty (Christopher Silgar) from Hocus Pocus (Michael Penney) and Sommerbreeze (Hans Sommer) which gained fourth place today by a mere four seconds in an aggressive finish.

Division D – Wirrajurnd (Peter Whitford) maintained its consistent good results with a third place in today’s race to give it a 16 point winning margin over the fleet. Three yachts finished equal for second points, with a countback giving second to Cyrene (Pacific Sailing School), third to Foreshore (Don Young), fourth Redeemer (Michael Phillips).

Division E – Scarlett 0’Hara (Robert Skol) won four of the 10 races in the Winter Series and despite finishing seventh today scored a comfortable overall victory from final race winner Windflyt (Doug Sturrock) and Sayonara (Greg Maughan).

Division F – Flying her huge yellow spinnaker, Wild Child (Phil Bower and David Eastwood) swept home to win its third race of the BMW Sydney Winter Series and take top honours from Youngstar (Garry Corstorphan) and Wild Blue Yonder (T.Rhodes/D.Newell). A Mini Transat design, Wild Child is the smallest boat in the Winter Series and is the winner of the last TransTasman Singlehanded Race.

Division G – The three top placed boats in this division between them won six of the 10 races over the Winter Series and in the end only two points separated them on the pointscore, Sirocco (James Stevens) winning the series, Sensai (Andrew Dally) placing second on a countback from San Terre (Ed Tacey).

Division F (non spinnaker) – Tanami (Lance Peckman and Bruce Foye) clinched a close fought series with an eighth in the last race to take overall first place from A Bientot (John Walton) and Privateer (Bill Mirow) with the last race going to the former One Ton Cup champion Stormy Petrel, now owned by Kevin 0’Shea.

Presenting the trophies for today’s final pointscore, CYCA Commodore John Messenger (who today aggressively sailed his Sydney 38, Utopia, into 15th place, just one second ahead of AMI Jade (Peter McNamara and Michael Grout) described the BMW Sydney Winter Series as the best regatta of its kind in the nation.

He said the Series had attracted record entries, resulting in outstanding competition in every division, with the success of the BMW Sydney Winter Series are tribute to the CYCA, the sponsors, BMW Syndey, and the many competitors from so many different clubs.

The Chris Lee Memorial Ladies Day Race next Sunday, 20 July, will conclude the BMW Winter Series for 2003.

www.cyca.com.au