Land Rover Winter Series - Great start for opening races

by CYCA on 24 Apr 2017 Sydney Harbour put on a spectacular day for the opening races of the 2017 Land Rover Winter Series. After a one-hour delay for the Ladies Day competitors, all fleets were off and racing at 12:30pm in a light five knot east south-easterly breeze. The light wind created some congestion at the rounding marks, until an increase to 10 knots was welcomed by the fleet on the shortened course.

Six yachts competed in yesterday’s Great Veterans Race, which is open to yachts over 30 years old that have competed in a Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. Nigel Stoke’s Knud Remiers 61, Fidelis well known for winning Line Honours in the 1966 Sydney Hobart Race, claimed victory over Nicole Shrimpton’s Defiance. Simon Kurts sailed into third place with his three-time Sydney Hobart winning yacht, Love & War.

On top of the six yachts in the Great Veterans Race 40 boats lined up for the Ladies Day Race, 24 in the two spinnaker divisions, and 16 in the two non-spinnaker divisions.

2015/16 Clipper Round the World Race skipper Wendy Tuck, steered UBS Wild Thing to win the spinnaker Division One by over four minutes. Tuck was the first Australian female skipper in the Clipper’s history of the race. She has recently been appointed Chief Instructor and Principal of the Australian base for the 2017/18 event.

Maike Muth came in second on the Judel & Vorlijk 42, Elena Nova, just 28 seconds ahead of Cyrene 3 skippered by Lindsey Gilbert in third overall in the 13 yacht division.

In Division Two, Linda Goransson steered the Thompson 8.7 Mako, to victory in what was her first ever yacht race. Goransson has spent time over the past year cruising and was ecstatic to take the win.

Mako’s owner, Cameron Wiklund, had nothing but praise for Linda as skipper. “We knew it was going to be a tricky race, but Linda controlled the boat well to maintain speed in the light air and enabled her to make good decisions during the race.”

Second was Louise Stevenson on the Cape 31 Clewless? She narrowly beat the Archambault A31, Precision, skippered by Nicole Butcher by 13 seconds.

Lisa Wilkinson steered Farr 30 Foreign Affair to victory in Non-Spinnaker Division One ahead of Pam Messenger on Utopia by 17 seconds. Matt and Lisa Wilkinson were happy to get a race in the light wind, with Foreign Affair favouring the conditions.

“Lisa did such a great job on Sunday, she’s been out practicing her steering, and it paid off. I’m really proud of her,” Matt commented.

“We actually had more women than men on board the boat which was a sensational effort I think,” Lisa laughed. “We had a tough battle with Utopia from Junction Bell to the finish, and it really was a great day.”

Vivienne Macmahon rounded out the top three on the Jarkan 12.5, Marloo.

In Non-Spinnaker Division Two it was Jenni Hayward who took out the top spot on Defiant, followed two minutes later by Sea Ya, skippered by Melissa Bergin. The Oceanis 40, Hubcap2 finished third, skippered by Anna Soligo.

“The Ladies Day racing is always a great way to open up the Land Rover Winter Series for us,” commented Defiant owner Paul Billingham. “It was Jenni’s first time steering our boat, and she did a great job! I really can’t fault the day we had out there, it was beautiful.”

Whilst she has been crewing on yachts, Jenni said she has newfound respect for skippers. “It was a tough race right until the end, it came down to the wire.” She explained, “It’s good to see so many women not only steering, but also crewing on board boats this year.”

Racing in the 2017 Land Rover Winter Series continues next Sunday when the first pointscore race will be sailed.

Prizes will be awarded to the yachts placed first, second and third in each division and include exclusive CYCA Land Rover Winter Series merchandise.

2017 Land Rover Winter Series - Results

2017 Great Veterans Race

PHSTCF results Start : 12:30

Place	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	Fin Tim	Elapsd	AHC	Cor'd T
1	45	FIDELIS	Nigel Stoke	14:18:52	01:48:52	1.0383	01:53:02
2	11	DEFIANCE	Nicole Shrimpton	14:31:11	02:01:11	0.9995	02:01:07
3	294	LOVE AND WAR	Simon Kurts	14:32:02	02:02:02	1.0176	02:04:11
4	193	SYONARA	Greg Maughan	14:54:33	02:24:33	0.8734	02:06:15
5	A156	LOLITA	Nick Cassim	15:06:29	02:36:29	0.8084	02:06:30
6	24	JOSEPHINE	Rob Evans	14:43:44	02:13:44	0.9585	02:08:11

Ladies Day Pointscore Series - Spinnaker

Divs1 PHSTCF results Start : 12:30

Place	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	OffSet	Elapsd	Fin Tim	Score	Vis
1	1014	UBS WILD THING	Wendy Tuck	38	01:10:38	14:18:38	1.0
2	65007	ELENA NOVA	Maike Muth	35	01:18:18	14:23:18	2.0
3	8412	CYRENE 3	Lindsey Gilbert	17	01:36:46	14:23:46	3.0
4	SM6518	ADVENTURESAFETY JEM	Sarah Taylor	24	01:30:58	14:24:58	4.0
5	248	WAX LYRICAL	Les Goodridge	22	01:33:54	14:25:54	5.0
6	6755	AUSREO	Ian Creak	15	01:44:43	14:29:43		Yes
7	415	ARCH RIVAL	Steve Connors	21	01:39:13	14:30:13	6.0
8	6081	NEXT	R Tomkins A Holstein	25	01:35:42	14:30:42	7.0
9	7777	CALIBRE	Richard Williams	22	01:40:37	14:32:37	8.0
10	RQ1123	RUM JUNGLE	Jenny Smith	16	01:48:16	14:34:16	9.0
11	8824	CHANCELLOR	Liz Gatsios	11	02:08:24	14:49:24	10.0
12	2001	QUETZALCOATL	Anto Sweetapple	15	02:06:53	14:51:53	11.0
13	AUS03	SOUTHERNEXCELLENCE2	Andrew Wenham	54	01:29:45	14:53:45	12.0

Divs2 PHSTCF results Start : 12:30

Place	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	OffSet	Elapsd	Fin Tim	Score	Vis
1	T870	MAKO	Linda Goransson	30	01:32:58	14:32:58	1.0
2	4377	CLEWLESS?	Louise Stevenson	37	01:31:20	14:38:20	2.0
3	6807	PRECISION	Nicole Butcher	35	01:33:33	14:38:33	3.0
4	2608	RAPID TRANSIT	Beth Abbott	31	01:37:54	14:38:54	4.0
5	5436	SINEWAVE	Barbara Maunsell	37	01:33:47	14:40:47	5.0
6	5923	TWILIGHT ZONE	Michelle Obrien	38	01:35:06	14:43:06	6.0
7	B347	SPEEDWELL	Melissa Geeves	33	01:41:06	14:44:06	7.0
8	8330	SHIBUMI	Lou & Sarah Nighting	38	01:52:04	15:00:04	8.0
9	AUS4439	JAGGED EDGE	Sandra Bellony	15	02:17:57	15:02:57	9.0
10	2125	SEA RUG HOO HA	Peter Howes	5	02:35:21	15:10:21	10.0
11	8975A	ZORA	Pacific Sailin Schoo	29	02:12:24	15:11:24	11.0

Ladies Day Pointscore Series - Non Spinnaker

Divns1 PHSTCF results Start : 12:30

Place	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	OffSet	Elapsd	Fin Tim	Score	Vis
1	AUS6133	FOREIGN AFFAIR	Lisa Wilkinson	26	01:30:46	14:26:46	1.0
2	7600	UTOPIA	Pam Messenger	29	01:28:03	14:27:03	2.0
3	4715	MARLOO	Vivienne Macmahon	26	01:34:19	14:30:19	3.0
4	6841	PAPILLON	Julie Plant	23	01:44:35	14:37:35	4.0
5	5930	REVE	Victoria Stuhlmann	14	01:54:07	14:38:07	5.0
6	6223	TRIM	Lauren Walsh	21	01:51:47	14:42:47	6.0
7	KA400	SCARLETT O'HARA	Grainne Skol	17	01:58:30	14:45:30	7.0
8	6797	HOLY COW!	Kim Clinton	11	02:07:12	14:48:12	8.0
RET	02	HINEMOA	Rebecca Kerswell	25				Yes
RET	8383	KRAKATOA	Janet Whitfeld	18			10.0

Divns2 PHSTCF results Start : 12:30

Place	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	OffSet	Elapsd	Fin Tim	Score	Vis
1	7045	DEFIANT	Jenni Hayward	41	01:48:17	14:59:17	1.0
2	3495	SEA YA	Melissa Bergin	19	02:12:31	15:01:31	2.0
3	6739	HUBCAP2	Anna Soligo	32	02:00:06	15:02:06	3.0
4	7096	SOLUTION	Neale Peppernell	22	02:15:05	15:07:05	4.0
5	6959	SOLEARES	Justine Anson	33	02:14:52	15:17:52	5.0
RET	5950	SHORETHING	Jessica Barr	29			8.0
RET	7073	SERENDIPITY	Emma May	11			8.0