Van Bellen hits the jackpot again in Lion Island Race

by Di Pearson on 15 Mar 2015 Adrian Van Bellen's winning streak with his fittingly named Jackpot continued today when the J/122 yacht took out the Lion Island Race, the penultimate race of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Ocean Point Score (OPS) which started on Sydney Harbour at 10.00am today.

On the last weekend of February, Jackpot was crowned both Grant Thornton Short Ocean Pointscore champion and Combined Ocean/Short Ocean Pointscore (in both IRC and PHS) champion for the season.

Looking ahead at predicted light five-six knot winds, Van Bellen made a decision that may have made the difference between winning, or not. 'I decided to sail with eight people instead of the usual 11,' he said. 'We were very busy.'

Surprised when told of his win, the CYCA sailor said: 'It was hard getting out of the Harbour, but once we got outside and turned the corner, we got into a groove. Coming back from the Island was wonderful. It blew mostly easterly 12-17 knots and we reached until Long Reef and then ran all the way to the finish – beautiful sailing – but I can’t believe we won.'

Van Bellen commended his crew and two in particular. 'Carl Crafoord and Hugh Brodie – they have something like 60 Hobarts between them (Crafoord has 29 and Brodie 26). They are so inspirational, especially to me who is still learning. And my boat is also special.'

Jackpot’s crew were celebrating their win back at the CYCA tonight, where Van Bellen was praising Julian Farren-Price who finished second overall today by just under three minutes on corrected time. It leaves the jeweller just one step away from collecting a fifth consecutive OPS title and ninth out of the last 11 with his Cookson 12, About Time.

'It is so hard to beat About Time. I’m not going to get carried away with beating that gentleman (Farren-Price); he has such a fine reputation. I think we got a bit lucky where he is concerned,' Van Bellen said of About Time which is currently 16 points ahead of nearest rival, Balance, the TP52 owned by Paul Clitheroe. Steven Proud’s Swish is a further seven points behind in third with one race left in the series.

St George Midnight Rambler (Ed Psaltis/Michael Bencsik/Bob Thomas) was third overall today, while Dennis Cooper’s Amante took out ORCi and PHS overall today. About Time was second in ORCi with Matt Wilkinson’s Kerisma third in ORCi and second in PHS. Jackpot filled out the top three in PHS.

The Lion Island race was a vastly different scenario to the previous race from Sydney to Newcastle in February, where not one yacht finished after competitors struggled in light air and Balance came to within a whisker of finishing.

The final race of the Ocean Point Score is next weekend’s Sydney Wollongong Race starting at 10.00am.

 Complete Results:

IRC results Start : Div1 10:00 Div2 10:00

Place	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	Div No	AHC	Fin Tim	Elapsd	Cor'd T	Score
1	6774	JACKPOT	Adrian Van Bellen	2	1.078	17:33:15	07:33:15	08:08:36	1.0
2	7700	ABOUT TIME	Julian Farren-Price	1	1.112	17:21:52	07:21:52	08:11:21	2.0
3	8338	ST GEORGE MIDNIGHT R	Ed Psaltis/ Bencsik/	1	1.193	16:52:48	06:52:48	08:12:28
4	93	MERLIN	David Forbes	1	1.223	16:43:44	06:43:44	08:13:46
5	360	PATRICE	Tony Kirby	1	1.285	16:25:55	06:25:55	08:15:54	3.0
6	6343	GREAT XPECTATIONS	Rod Wills	2	1.079	17:40:25	07:40:25	08:16:47	4.0
7	6609	AMANTE	Dennis Cooper	2	1.043	17:56:42	07:56:42	08:17:12	5.0
8	6686	ST JUDE	Noel Cornish	1	1.173	17:08:37	07:08:37	08:22:46	6.0
9	11033	KERISMA	Matt Wilkinson	1	1.151	17:18:11	07:18:11	08:24:21
10	8008	OCC.COARSELANGUAGE 2	Warwick Sherman	1	1.180	17:08:28	07:08:28	08:25:35	7.0
11	226	SWISH	Steven Proud	1	1.246	16:53:53	06:53:53	08:35:42	8.0
12	7771	BALANCE	Paul Clitheroe	1	1.361	16:19:30	06:19:30	08:36:30	9.0
13	248	WAX LYRICAL	Les Goodridge	1	1.145	17:33:39	07:33:39	08:39:26	10.0
14	6377	TRITON	Michael Cranitch	1	1.393	16:32:15	06:32:15	09:06:24	11.0
15	8824	CHANCELLOR	Edward Tooher	2	1.108	18:20:38	08:20:38	09:14:42	12.0
DNC	35	IMAGINATION	Robin/Annette Hawtho	1	1.112				16.0
DNC	99	PAZAZZ	Rob Drury	1	1.127				16.0
DNC	335	WILLYAMA	R Barron/S San	2	1.079				16.0
DNC	3430	AZZURRO	Shane Kearns	2	0.923
DNC	4343	WILD ROSE	Roger Hickman	2	1.047
DNC	4966	KING BILLY	Philip Bennett	2	0.990
DNC	A140	ARIEL	Ron Forster	2	1.079				16.0
DNC	AUS01	ICHI BAN	Matt Allen	1	1.504
DNC	AUS5299	VICTOIRE	Darryl Hodgkinson	1	1.352				16.0

 ORCI results Start : Div1 10:00 Div2 10:00

Place	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	AHC	Fin Tim	Elapsd	Cor'd T	Score	Vis
1	6609	AMANTE	Dennis Cooper	1.0142	17:56:42	07:56:42	08:03:28	1.0
2	7700	ABOUT TIME	Julian Farren-Price	1.1033	17:21:52	07:21:52	08:07:31	2.0
3	11033	KERISMA	Matt Wilkinson	1.1144	17:18:11	07:18:11	08:08:19		Yes
4	6343	GREAT XPECTATIONS	Rod Wills	1.0621	17:40:25	07:40:25	08:09:00	3.0
5	8338	ST GEORGE MIDNIGHT R	Ed Psaltis/ Bencsik/	1.1848	16:52:48	06:52:48	08:09:05		Yes
6	360	PATRICE	Tony Kirby	1.2868	16:25:55	06:25:55	08:16:36	4.0
7	93	MERLIN	David Forbes	1.2427	16:43:44	06:43:44	08:21:43		Yes
8	8008	OCC.COARSELANGUAGE 2	Warwick Sherman	1.1769	17:08:28	07:08:28	08:24:16	5.0
9	248	WAX LYRICAL	Les Goodridge	1.1238	17:33:39	07:33:39	08:29:49	6.0
10	7771	BALANCE	Paul Clitheroe	1.3463	16:19:30	06:19:30	08:30:55	7.0
11	226	SWISH	Steven Proud	1.2353	16:53:53	06:53:53	08:31:16	8.0
12	2001	QUETZALCOATL	Antony Sweetapple	1.1358	17:57:20	07:57:20	09:02:09	9.0
13	8824	CHANCELLOR	Edward Tooher	1.0844	18:20:38	08:20:38	09:02:53	10.0
14	6377	TRITON	Michael Cranitch	1.3867	16:32:15	06:32:15	09:03:56	11.0
DNC	35	IMAGINATION	Robin/Annette Hawtho	1.1057				16.0
DNC	99	PAZAZZ	Rob Drury	1.1199				16.0
DNC	3430	AZZURRO	Shane Kearns	0.8831					Yes
DNC	4343	WILD ROSE	Roger Hickman	1.0355					Yes
DNC	4966	KING BILLY	Philip Bennett	0.9757					Yes
DNC	A140	ARIEL	Ron Forster	1.0541				16.0
DNC	AUS5299	VICTOIRE	Darryl Hodgkinson	1.3294				16.0
DNC	SYD181	ONLINE	Stephen Trevillion	1.0507				16.0
RET	6837	MINERVA	Tim Cox	1.1360				13.0

PHSTCF results Start : Div1 10:00 Div2 10:00

Place	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	Div No	AHC	Fin Tim	Elapsd	Cor'd T	Score	Vis
1	6609	AMANTE	Dennis Cooper	2	1.0193	17:56:42	07:56:42	08:05:54	1.0
2	11033	KERISMA	Matt Wilkinson	1	1.1221	17:18:11	07:18:11	08:11:41		Yes
3	6774	JACKPOT	Adrian Van Bellen	2	1.0957	17:33:15	07:33:15	08:16:38	2.0
4	6686	ST JUDE	Noel Cornish	1	1.1590	17:08:37	07:08:37	08:16:46	3.0
5	248	WAX LYRICAL	Les Goodridge	1	1.0960	17:33:39	07:33:39	08:17:12	4.0
6	6343	GREAT XPECTATIONS	Rod Wills	2	1.0863	17:40:25	07:40:25	08:20:09	5.0
7	2001	QUETZALCOATL	Antony Sweetapple	2	1.0541	17:57:20	07:57:20	08:23:09	6.0
8	8008	OCC.COARSELANGUAGE 2	Warwick Sherman	1	1.1799	17:08:28	07:08:28	08:25:33	7.0
9	360	PATRICE	Tony Kirby	1	1.3159	16:25:55	06:25:55	08:27:50	8.0
10	93	MERLIN	David Forbes	1	1.2600	16:43:44	06:43:44	08:28:42		Yes
11	7700	ABOUT TIME	Julian Farren-Price	1	1.1592	17:21:52	07:21:52	08:32:13	9.0
12	8338	ST GEORGE MIDNIGHT R	Ed Psaltis/ Bencsik/	1	1.2411	16:52:48	06:52:48	08:32:20		Yes
13	226	SWISH	Steven Proud	1	1.2505	16:53:53	06:53:53	08:37:34	10.0
14	8824	CHANCELLOR	Edward Tooher	2	1.0398	18:20:38	08:20:38	08:40:34	11.0
15	7771	BALANCE	Paul Clitheroe	1	1.3749	16:19:30	06:19:30	08:41:46	12.0
16	6377	TRITON	Michael Cranitch	1	1.3874	16:32:15	06:32:15	09:04:12	13.0
DNC	35	IMAGINATION	Robin/Annette Hawtho	1	1.1310				18.0
DNC	99	PAZAZZ	Rob Drury	1	1.1227				18.0
DNC	195	SAMARKAND	Walter Carpenter	1	1.1306				18.0
DNC	335	WILLYAMA	R Barron/S San	2	1.0319				18.0
DNC	3430	AZZURRO	Shane Kearns	2	0.9029					Yes
DNC	4343	WILD ROSE	Roger Hickman	2	1.0471					Yes
DNC	4966	KING BILLY	Philip Bennett	2	0.9724					Yes
DNC	6396	SPORTS BAR	Nev & Jo Blair	2	1.0730				18.0
DNC	6767	BIG BLUE	Stephen Phillips	2	0.9081					Yes
DNC	8330	SHIBUMI	B Moore P Thompson	2	0.9678				18.0
DNC	8975	LAST TANGO	Phillip King	2	1.0930					Yes
DNC	10000	BRINDABELLA	Jim Cooney	1	1.4051				18.0
DNC	A140	ARIEL	Ron Forster	2	1.0970				18.0
DNC	AUS01	ICHI BAN	Matt Allen	1	1.5458					Yes
DNC	AUS5299	VICTOIRE	Darryl Hodgkinson	1	1.3481				18.0
DNC	SYD181	ONLINE	Stephen Trevillion	2	1.0224				18.0
RET	6837	MINERVA	Tim Cox	1	1.1363				15.0