PART TIME SAILORS IN DUEL FOR INTERNATIONAL HOG'S BREATH RACE WEEK TITLE.

by Ian Grant on 13 Aug 2000 Ross Winterbourne's 11.7 m sloop Bobby Dazzler has entered into an exciting struggle for the prestigious International Hog's Breath Race Week Regatta trophy of Airlie Beach.

The Mackay (Qld) skipper assisted by clever crew work in testing 15-18knot winds has become a shock star performer in the series which has attracted a very strong fleet representing New Zealand, Hong Kong and Australian clubs.

Skipper Winterbourne and his crew of mainly weekend sailors who simply race for the love of the sport upstaged some of the nations best offshore crews.

They included the crews of the record breaking Sydney sloop Leroy Brown (Warren Wieckmann) and the Ron Jones skippered Australian Admirals Cup representative Sledgehammer to win the opening race on corrected handicap.

Bobby Dazzler advantaged with the best start in clear wind was able to log an all angle sailing speed above their handicap rating to eventually score a comfortable 2 minute 14 second win over the new Airlie Beach yacht Dehler Magic (Greg Tobin) with Leroy Brown another 54 seconds away third.

They were again in the thick of the action in the second race off Airlie Beach today when a stronger wind contributed to close mark roundings, rule infringements and a course line honours match race between Leroy Brown and Sledgehammer.

Leroy Brown narrowly retained her undefeated line honours record over the equally impressive Sledgehammer while Ian Nicholson's Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club sloop Intrigue Of Stornoway claimed a provisional handicap win ahead of Sledgehammer and Leroy Brown.

Several protests have been lodged however they are not expected to alter the leading championship pointscores of Leroy Brown and Bobby Dazzler.

WORLD SAILING CHAMPION EXPRESSES SKILL IN HOG'S BREATH REGATTA.
By Ian Grant.

Master Melbourne yacht racing helmsman John Savage expressed his highly respected One-Design class racing experience to make a move on the Hog's Breath Sydney 38 Class Australian championship off Airlie Beach today.

Savage helming his new sloop 38 Degrees South fought back into title contention with unmatched speed after a dramatic unfavourable wind shift swamped his chances in the first heat of the highly competitive series on Saturday.

Finishing a distant fourth in the art form of One-Design yacht racing was a bitter pill to swallow for the former America's Cup Challenge 12 skipper.

As expected he was on top of the prevailing winds today being the first to control the left side of the windward beat, making gains in speed with every direction change which blew over the deck.

Apart from doing some damage to their lead with a slow and sloppy spinnaker drop at the fifth rounding mark the 38 Degrees South crew showed they had the speed to sail clear of trouble.

Skipper Savage was in his element steering the sloop to a comfortable 1 minute 14 second win over their New South Wales rivals The E Business helmed by New Zealand's Brett Neill with the consistent Barry Moore in Blowfly another 1 minute 2 seconds away third.

This result paved the way for a spirited tactical struggle for honours in race 3 before Blowfly broke away in the final half of the course to score a 49 second win from The E Business with another 37 seconds to 38 Degrees South.

After the three intensely competitive races The E Business with her 1-2-2 score leads the championship by one point from Blowfly 2-3-1 and 38 Degrees South 4-1-3 and Wayne Kirkpatrick's Asylum 3-4-4.