Golden oldie overall winner of Melbourne-Stanley Race

by Peter Campbell on 1 Nov 2004 The young crew of Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race contender, Another Challenge, has finished fourth in the IRC handicap division of the Melbourne to Stanley Race across Bass Strait – their first long ocean race.

All 30 starters finished the 159 nautical mile crossing late last night and early today, with line honours going to the Open 60, Gusto, being raced offshore for the first time by new owners Brian Pattinson and Pat Guidice, after a close duel with the brand new DK46, Dekadence.

Gusto will contest this year’s West Coaster Race, but Dekadence, skippered by Sandringham Yacht Club Commodore Phillip Coombs, is among the 23 Victorian yachts nominated for the Rolex Sydney Hobart.

Older and smaller boats dominated handicap results, with the fleet sailing almost a rhumbline course to Stanley, on the north-west coast of Tasmania, once they cleared Melbourne’s Port Phillip Heads.

Winds were mostly east-south-easterly of up to 20 knots, with the fleet encountering rough seas as they closed the Tasmanian coast in western Bass Strait.

First place on corrected time in the IRC division went to the veteran Peterson 44, Bacardi, owned by former Yachting Australia president Graeme Ainley and John Williams, with Chris Dare’s Stratcorp Ninety Seven taking second place, third going to Rob Hanna’s Elliott 1050, Sea Eagle 1, and fourth to Another Challenge.

Sea Eagle 1 and Another Challenge have already been nominated for the Hobart race, with the Melbourne to Stanley being their qualifying race, as well as the first long ocean race for 21-year-old Chris Lewin and his crew of fellow Melbourne University students.

Another Challenge finished 12th in the 30-boat fleet after a close duel with two other Sydney-Hobart contenders, Fuzzy Logic (Bill Lennon and Paul Roberts) 10th, and Ice Fire (Robin Warlond) 11th.

Conditions did not suit many of the other contenders for the Sydney Hobart, with Dekadence placing sixth in the IRC division.

Under AMS handicaps, top placings went to three small boats, Rumbeat (Geoff Henderson), Tevake, skippered by Ocean Racing Club of Victoria Commodore Angus Fletcher, and Island Trader (John Chatham) which won last year’s West Coaster Race.