2015 Sydney Wollongong Yacht Race - Winners announced

by Di Pearson on 21 Mar 2015 St George Midnight Rambler (Ed Psaltis/Michael Bencsik/Bob Thomas) won the Sydney Wollongong Race, the last of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Ocean Point Score series, but the celebrations were loudest on Julian Farren-Price’s About Time after a landslide fifth consecutive title.

Psaltis and crew sailed their Ker 40 to a win over two TP52’s in Balance and Fomo, also beating fourth placed Merlin, Dave Forbes’ Kaiko 52 to the punch in what was predominantly a big boat race. “It was a real buzz to beat them,” Psaltis said.

“We sailed out of the Harbour with a big masthead Code Zero that we couldn’t hold, but we were going very fast. With the wind in the south-east and east-south-east, we sailed close to the rocks when we got around the corner. You can’t afford to go offshore in those conditions.”

Psaltis said it was lumpy once they left the Harbour, “but the crew did a great job. My son Ben did bow. He was sick, but went straight back to the job. He proved himself and made me proud - he’s a third generation sailing Psaltis. Chris Rockell did a lot of the steering and did a great job.”

Overseas on business, OPS winner Farren-Price missed the moment, having to leave the final race and his Cookson 12 in the hands of longtime crew and sometime skipper, Shane Guanaria. But he did so knowing his crew had morphed into an almost unbeatable unit since the first of their victories.

The modest eastern suburbs yachtsman collected an unprecedented fifth consecutive OPS title; his ninth win out of 11 seasons with About Time. He and the crew are so good they won both IRC and ORCi pointscores.

Under IRC they finished 11 points clear of second placed Balance (Paul Clitheroe) and 20 points ahead of Adrian Van Bellen’s Jackpot in the 10-race one-drop series. They also beat Balance for ORCi honours by eight points, with Rod Wills’ Great Xpectations third.

Under PHS, Great Xpectations was the clear winner. The X-43 design finished six points in front of Antony Sweetapple’s Jones 12.3 Quetzalcoatl, with Les Goodridge’s X-50 Wax Lyrical third.

Speaking on behalf of Farren-Price, Shane Guanaria said: “He would have loved to be here, and the race would have suited him down to the ground.

“We battled early on and made a few mistakes,” he said of their seventh place in the race, which translated to third in the series, as four of those who finished ahead of them were casual entries. “Ed (Psaltis) had a great race. He’s such a good yachtie. It’s good to see him get a win. He’s hard to beat.”

Guanaria said the first part of the race was difficult. “The seas were sloppy and confused and we were between sails and overpowered,” Guanaria said. “Once we got to Botany Bay it freed up and settled then the fleet formed a picket line down the course – there weren’t really any passing lanes.”

Winds during the race oscillated between 150 and 110 degrees at anywhere between 14 and 24 knots, giving the 21-boat fleet a genuinely hard work-out.

Guanaria said About Time’s owner and crew deserved every accolade they’ve received. “I know Julian always praises his crew. And he is lucky with crew he has – they know the boat and their roles so well and make very few mistakes. And Julian’s smart in how he goes about his boat and sailing. He doesn’t rush into things, he considers first. He runs a good program. I’m happy I could contribute to their win.

 Results:

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

Place	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	AHC	Fin Tim	Elapsd	Cor'd T	Score	Vis
1	8338	ST GEORGE MIDNIGHT R	Ed Psaltis/ Bencsik/	1.193	14:54:03	04:54:03	05:50:48		Yes
2	7771	BALANCE	Paul Clitheroe	1.361	14:21:16	04:21:16	05:55:35	1.0
3	6952	FOMO	Rupert Henry	1.366	14:20:38	04:20:38	05:56:02		Yes
4	93	MERLIN	David Forbes	1.223	14:56:50	04:56:50	06:03:02		Yes
5	33345	BLACK SHEEP	Derek & Martin Shepp	1.118	15:32:04	05:32:04	06:11:15		Yes
6	6686	ST JUDE	Noel Cornish	1.173	15:18:31	05:18:31	06:13:37	2.0
7	7700	ABOUT TIME	Julian Farren-Price	1.112	15:38:16	05:38:16	06:16:09	3.0
8	4343	WILD ROSE	Roger Hickman	1.047	16:05:05	06:05:05	06:22:14		Yes
9	6774	JACKPOT	Adrian Van Bellen	1.078	15:54:52	05:54:52	06:22:33	4.0
10	6343	GREAT XPECTATIONS	Rod Wills	1.079	15:57:54	05:57:54	06:26:10	5.0
11	4966	KING BILLY	Philip Bennett	0.990	16:41:18	06:41:18	06:37:17		Yes
12	8824	CHANCELLOR	Edward Tooher	1.108	16:02:07	06:02:07	06:41:14	6.0
13	248	WAX LYRICAL	Les Goodridge	1.145	15:50:38	05:50:38	06:41:28	7.0
14	3430	QUIKPOINT AZZURRO	Shane Kearns	0.923	17:17:42	07:17:42	06:44:00		Yes
DNC	35	IMAGINATION	Robin/Annette Hawtho	1.112				12.0
DNC	99	PAZAZZ	Rob Drury	1.127				12.0
DNC	226	SWISH	Steven Proud	1.246				12.0
DNC	335	WILLYAMA	R Barron/S San	1.079				12.0
DNC	360	PATRICE	Tony Kirby	1.285				12.0
DNC	6377	TRITON	Michael Cranitch	1.393				12.0
DNC	6609	AMANTE	Dennis Cooper	1.043				12.0
DNC	7027	THE GOAT	Bruce Foye	1.098					Yes
DNC	11033	KERISMA	Matt Wilkinson	1.151					Yes
DNC	A140	ARIEL	Ron Forster	1.079				12.0
DNC	AUS01	ICHI BAN	Matt Allen	1.504					Yes
DNC	AUS5299	VICTOIRE	Darryl Hodgkinson	1.352				12.0
RET	8008	OCC.COARSELANGUAGE 2	Warwick Sherman	1.180				9.0

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	8338	ST GEORGE MIDNIGHT R	Ed Psaltis/ Bencsik/	1.1848	14:54:03	04:54:03	05:48:23		Yes
2	7771	BALANCE	Paul Clitheroe	1.3463	14:21:16	04:21:16	05:51:45	1.0
3	33345	BLACK SHEEP	Derek & Martin Shepp	1.0881	15:32:04	05:32:04	06:01:19		Yes
4	93	MERLIN	David Forbes	1.2427	14:56:50	04:56:50	06:08:52		Yes
5	7700	ABOUT TIME	Julian Farren-Price	1.1033	15:38:16	05:38:16	06:13:13	2.0
6	4343	WILD ROSE	Roger Hickman	1.0355	16:05:05	06:05:05	06:18:03		Yes
7	8975	LAST TANGO	Phillip King	1.0977	15:46:14	05:46:14	06:20:04		Yes
8	6343	GREAT XPECTATIONS	Rod Wills	1.0621	15:57:54	05:57:54	06:20:08	3.0
9	3430	QUIKPOINT AZZURRO	Shane Kearns	0.8831	17:17:42	07:17:42	06:26:32		Yes
10	4966	KING BILLY	Philip Bennett	0.9757	16:41:18	06:41:18	06:31:33		Yes
11	8824	CHANCELLOR	Edward Tooher	1.0844	16:02:07	06:02:07	06:32:41	4.0
12	248	WAX LYRICAL	Les Goodridge	1.1238	15:50:38	05:50:38	06:34:02	5.0
13	2001	QUETZALCOATL	Antony Sweetapple	1.1358	15:59:40	05:59:40	06:48:31	6.0
DNC	35	IMAGINATION	Robin/Annette Hawtho	1.1057				11.0
DNC	99	PAZAZZ	Rob Drury	1.1199				11.0
DNC	226	SWISH	Steven Proud	1.2353				11.0
DNC	360	PATRICE	Tony Kirby	1.2868				11.0
DNC	6377	TRITON	Michael Cranitch	1.3867				11.0
DNC	6609	AMANTE	Dennis Cooper	1.0142				11.0
DNC	6837	MINERVA	Tim Cox	1.1360				11.0
DNC	7027	THE GOAT	Bruce Foye	1.0728					Yes
DNC	11033	KERISMA	Matt Wilkinson	1.1144					Yes
DNC	A140	ARIEL	Ron Forster	1.0541				11.0
DNC	AUS5299	VICTOIRE	Darryl Hodgkinson	1.3294				11.0
DNC	SYD181	ONLINE	Stephen Trevillion	1.0507				11.0
RET	8008	OCC.COARSELANGUAGE 2	Warwick Sherman	1.1769				8.0

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

Place	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	AHC	Fin Tim	Elapsd	Cor'd T	Score	Vis
1	7771	BALANCE	Paul Clitheroe	1.3664	14:21:16	04:21:16	05:57:00	1.0
2	8402	MORE WITCHCRAFT	John Cameron	1.0526	15:43:47	05:43:47	06:01:52		Yes
3	8338	ST GEORGE MIDNIGHT R	Ed Psaltis/ Bencsik/	1.2320	14:54:03	04:54:03	06:02:16		Yes
4	33345	BLACK SHEEP	Derek & Martin Shepp	1.1029	15:32:04	05:32:04	06:06:14		Yes
5	6952	FOMO	Rupert Henry	1.4204	14:20:38	04:20:38	06:10:12		Yes
6	6686	ST JUDE	Noel Cornish	1.1672	15:18:31	05:18:31	06:11:46	2.0
7	93	MERLIN	David Forbes	1.2574	14:56:50	04:56:50	06:13:14		Yes
8	8824	CHANCELLOR	Edward Tooher	1.0398	16:02:07	06:02:07	06:16:32	3.0
9	2001	QUETZALCOATL	Antony Sweetapple	1.0588	15:59:40	05:59:40	06:20:49	4.0
10	8975	LAST TANGO	Phillip King	1.1017	15:46:14	05:46:14	06:21:27		Yes
11	4343	WILD ROSE	Roger Hickman	1.0471	16:05:05	06:05:05	06:22:17		Yes
12	248	WAX LYRICAL	Les Goodridge	1.1041	15:50:38	05:50:38	06:27:08	5.0
13	6343	GREAT XPECTATIONS	Rod Wills	1.0844	15:57:54	05:57:54	06:28:06	6.0
14	6774	JACKPOT	Adrian Van Bellen	1.0969	15:54:52	05:54:52	06:29:15	7.0
15	7700	ABOUT TIME	Julian Farren-Price	1.1533	15:38:16	05:38:16	06:30:07	8.0
16	4966	KING BILLY	Philip Bennett	0.9724	16:41:18	06:41:18	06:30:13		Yes
17	6767	BIG BLUE	Stephen Phillips	0.9081	17:14:02	07:14:02	06:34:09		Yes
18	3430	QUIKPOINT AZZURRO	Shane Kearns	0.9029	17:17:42	07:17:42	06:35:12		Yes
19	6807	PRECISION	John Anet	0.9466	17:05:28	07:05:28	06:42:45		Yes
DNC	35	IMAGINATION	Robin/Annette Hawtho	1.1310				14.0
DNC	99	PAZAZZ	Rob Drury	1.1227				14.0
DNC	195	SAMARKAND	Walter Carpenter	1.1306				14.0
DNC	226	SWISH	Steven Proud	1.2478				14.0
DNC	335	WILLYAMA	R Barron/S San	1.0319				14.0
DNC	360	PATRICE	Tony Kirby	1.3150				14.0
DNC	6377	TRITON	Michael Cranitch	1.3718				14.0
DNC	6396	SPORTS BAR	Nev & Jo Blair	1.0730				14.0
DNC	6609	AMANTE	Dennis Cooper	1.0274				14.0
DNC	6837	MINERVA	Tim Cox	1.1363				14.0
DNC	7027	THE GOAT	Bruce Foye	1.0905					Yes
DNC	10000	BRINDABELLA	Jim Cooney	1.4051				14.0
DNC	11033	KERISMA	Matt Wilkinson	1.1336					Yes
DNC	A140	ARIEL	Ron Forster	1.0970				14.0
DNC	AUS01	ICHI BAN	Matt Allen	1.5458					Yes
DNC	AUS5299	VICTOIRE	Darryl Hodgkinson	1.3481				14.0
DNC	R447	LIBERTINE	Benjamin Morgan	0.9800					Yes
DNC	SYD181	ONLINE	Stephen Trevillion	1.0224				14.0
RET	8008	OCC.COARSELANGUAGE 2	Warwick Sherman	1.1812				11.0
RET	8330	SHIBUMI	B Moore P Thompson	0.9678				11.0