AAPT leads Skandia Geelong Week Fleet

by Rob Kothe on 22 Jan 2005 Geelong sailors assure visiting crews that every afternoon the southerly sea breeze comes like clockwork.

This afternoon 400 boats were ghosting towards Geelong from their Williamstown start, with a ‘glass out’ stretching all the way across the bay to Port Arlington, waiting for the clock to strike.

For an hour there were light two to three knot zephyrs coming over Clifton Springs while down on Corio Bay the south-easter has reached ten knots.

It was quite cold on the western end of Port Phillip Bay. With heavy overcast rain clouds over the You Yang Hills to the north the famed four seasons in one day would be the only thing that delivered enough land mass heating to provide the sea breeze power, for a fast reaching finish.

Out in the middle of the Bay, Geoff Bonus’ Calibre was leading the Sydney 38 fleet from Leon Christianakis' Cydon with Team Lexus next. All were betting on the sea breeze, while well north towards the Werribee shore Steve McConaghy and Steve Kulmar aboard Shining Sea were looking to slide through on the old breeze.

At the front of the fleet, Graeme Troon’s Reichel Pugh 46 XLR-8 had led the fleet for most of the race, keeping boat speed when everyone else has stalled.

But all soon changed. Matt Allen's Ichi Ban found pressure with nine to ten knots from the south and behind her Sean Langman’s AAPT was starting to power up and soon hit the lead as her giant black spinnaker filled.

Behind her, Grant Wharington steered the Volvo 60 Skandia into second place with XLR-8 third, ahead of her larger rival Ichi Ban.

AAPT crossed the finishing line at 15:59:04, six minutes ahead of Skandia, with XLR-8 five minutes further back, just 25 seconds ahead of Ichi Ban.

Behind this group was Geoff Boettcher's Hardys’ Secret Mens Business, followed by Prowler, Rush, Deckadence, Ninety Seven, Gomez and First National Real Estate.

Shining Sea won the Sydney 38 Class from Geoff Bonus’ Calibre, ahead of Cydon.