Asylum leads Sydney 38 fleet

by Rob Kothe on 21 Aug 2005 For the last three of the last four years, the Hamilton Island CEO Wayne Kirkpatrick has won the Coral Sea Race in the tight racing Sydney 38 One Design fleet.

It’s a race in which local knowledge can be important and the Asylum crew are all that. Wayne was the first owner of a Sydney 38 and this is very much his home turf.

This year, the long race is the 59-mile Edward Island race and the yellow shirted Asylum team are keen to continue their winning record.

Tactician Murray Walters positioned Asylum well off the Dent Passage startline and she was first to the Dent Island corner, three boat lengths ahead of Guido Belgiorno-Nettis’ Transfusion with Chris Way’s Easy Tiger, close behind her. Shining Sea wider on the course, at the top of Dent began heating up and she overtook Easy Tiger then tucked in right on the stern of Transfusion.

Behind then was Kym Clarke’s Fresh, James Mayo on Team Lexus and John Booth steering Eye Candy.

The light winds and strong tide created havoc in the fleet, with some big time gaps in what would normally be a close fleet. Martin Hill’s Estate Master with Roger Hickman making the tactical calls were trailing the leader by 15 boat lengths but they were still 10 boat lengths ahead of Geoff Bonus and his Calibre team.

By the bottom of Dent Island, Asylum most easterly boat was still leading but Transfusion out wide was throwing out a strong challenge, along with Shining Sea the most westerly boat.

Easy Tiger was ahead of Fresh and Team Lexus then 20 boat lengths back to
Estate Master overtaking Eye Candy, Calibre was still at the back of the fleet.

Principal Race Officer Arthur Hodge has this afternoon confirmed that the Edward Island Race will be shortened slightly to finish at Catseye Bay off the northeastern side of Hamilton Island.

“While there is only two miles difference in shortening the Edward Island Race at Catseye Bay, there are severe tidal challenges getting past Fitzallen Pass and rounding Dent Passage to the finish line,” said Hodge this afternoon. “Getting through those tidal gates can add hours to a boat’s finish time,” Hodge said.