Records set for the Club Marine Pittwater to Southport Yacht Race

by Stephen Collopy on 5 Jan 2017 Consistent strong southerly breezes for the first ever Club Marine Pittwater to Southport Yacht Race hosted by the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club brought in the last boat, Ian Edward’s Firefly, from 18 starters to the finish line at 22:10 hours on Wednesday January 4, 2017.

Doug Coulter’s Shakti, a Rogers 46 from Lake Macquarie Yacht Club, not only claimed line honours in the Club Marine Pittwater to Southport Yacht Race but also collected the silverware for first place in both IRC and ORCi divisions.

Shakti is the Hindu Goddess of power or force – and there was plenty of power in the boat’s run up the coast riding the south to south-east breeze, leading the fleet from the outset and setting a race record of 36 hours, 46 minutes, 07 seconds. Shakti’s average speed ranged between 16 – 18 knots with a top speed of 23 knots.

The pre-race forecast foretold a fast course time from the 1pm start from Broken Bay with competitors eager for a thrilling downhill run into Southport on Queensland’s south east coast. With gusts reaching 30 knots, the downhill run came at a cost for some owners and sail makers can look forward to a flurry of orders for replacement spinnakers.

Marcus Grimes, winner of the race’s social media competition for best live update, commented in one of his videos: “It’s been a pretty eventful race for us, we’ve been having a lot of fun but I reckon we’ve gone through every spinnaker in the bag.” Even with the added challenge of spinnaker issues, Grimes’ Elliott 10.5 High Anxiety claimed additional race prizes to go with their social media awards - third PHS overall and third PHS Division Two.

First on PHS was Jan Scholten and Stephen Parker’s Panchax, aptly named the “giant killer” by RPAYC Club Coach Tom Spithill due to their performance against the larger fleet. The Stewart 34, one of the smallest boats in the fleet, began the 370 nautical mile race strongly mid-fleet and maintained boat speed all the way up the coast to cross the line in 13th place and take victory in the PHS overall results and also PHS Division Two.

Mark Tinworth and Mark Waterhouse’s Beneteau First 44.7 Le Billet had a great mix of youth and experience on board with five RPAYC Youth Development sailors led by the owners and renowned yachtsman and tactician Steve McConaghy. After crossing the finish line in fourth place the team scored first in PHS Division Two and second in IRC results.

Upon receiving the IRC award Tinworth made special mention to his crew pointing the great work the Youth Development team achieved on the race to Southport.

“We had a great race with the five Youth Development members from the club (RPAYC). They are all under 23 and they bring so much enthusiasm and energy and it was great having them on board,” Tinworth said.

Youth Development crew Rachel Bower couldn’t praise Tinworth and the rest of the crew enough for the experience she gained racing to Southport.

“You learn so much from these experienced sailors like Steve (McConaghy), he’s like an Ocean Whisperer, plus you’re sailing with all your mates which just boosts the enthusiasm all-round. Both Marks are such great guys, it just makes it all worth it,” Rachel said.

As an added bonus to competitors in the Club Marine Pittwater to Southport Yacht Race, Roger ‘Clouds’ Badham provided his weather reports for the race start and has written a report for the Sydney, Lake Macquarie and Newcastle boats, for their voyage home.

This can be found on the event’s website.

Competitors are entitled to free berthing at Southport Yacht Club if they stay on for the start of the Bartercard Sail Paradise series on Sunday 8 January. For more information visit website.

Moving forward the RPAYC will review their options to decide on a destination for their flagship blue water race.