Dying breeze catches skippers out

by Lisa Ratcliff, CYCA on 31 May 2004 It was looking like the perfect afternoon race, a consistent 10 sou’wester and plenty of sunshine to take the chill out of the air, but soon after the frontrunners began their second lap in today’s BMW Sydney Winter Series, the breeze died away.

Because the lead boats went through the ‘gate’ with pressure, the Race Committee had to make the difficult decision to send the fleet on their full course.

There were, predictably, retirements throughout the afternoon with some crews preferring to soak up the afternoon sunshine back at the CYCA, but most continued to drift around the marks in a light nor’wester with 5 hours 13 minutes the maximum elapsed time taken to complete the course on Sydney Harbour.

In Division A, the two Volvo 60’s, Seriously TEN (James/Robinson/Woodruff) and Andrew Short Marine, placed either side of Dennis O’Neil’s racy Atomic, with a first and a third respectively.

After slipping out of the top three for the first time in weeks, Stuart Gilbert’s Inner Circle Rum was back with a vengeance, collecting first prize in Division B ahead of Louis Ryckmans’ Sea and Shane Kearns’ Komatsu a Few Good Men.

Stuart Bancroft and Charlie Duffil’s London Calling proved too strong in Division C as they relegated Enticer (Enticer Pentarque) to second place and Hans Sommer’s well-sailed Sommerbreeze to third for the second consecutive week.

Andy Stockel’s Integrity convincingly took out Division D by 35 minutes with Richard Lavers’ Summersalt finishing second ahead of Stephen Roach’s third-placed Casablanca.

Big Blue (Ann & Bob Penty) made the most of the extended afternoon sail by collecting first prize in Division E from Witchdoctor (Rum Consortium) and Grant Pollock’s L’Eau Commotion while in Division F, Nathan Smith was also rewarded for his patience with a win on his yacht Froth & Bubble. Wild Child (Bower/Eastwood) and Naughty Call (Gregg Watson) placed second and third in Division F respectively.

In Division G, Andrew Lukas’ Racy Lady was able to capitalise on the light conditions and improve greatly on last week’s third place with a divisional win from Bernie Van’T Hof’s Carnaval, a veteran of the BMW Sydney Winter Series, and Gold Dust (Fallon/Bennett)

In the non spinnaker Division J, Paul Billingham’s Wings Three held off Sextant (Doyle/Smith) and David Stitz’s Aquaticus and in the Sydney 38 Division, Michael Delaney’s Don’t Blink out-sailed Michael Jones’ Cinquante and Martin & Lisa Hill’s Estate Master.