Ray Roberts rolls to Rolex

by Nicole Brown/Sail-World.com on 14 Dec 2005 Sydney yachtsman Ray Roberts obviously can’t get enough of offshore yacht racing.

He was sailing his Farr 40 in the Savills regatta, off Sydney Heads, two weeks ago, last week he was in Thailand contesting, and winning, the King’s Cup Regatta off the famous resort of Phuket, with the chartered DK46, Quantum Racing Drumstick.

Flying to Sydney after the final race on Saturday, on Sunday morning he was steering his Farr 40 One Design yacht, also named Quantum Racing, in the last two days of the Rolex Trophy – One Design Series off Sydney Heads, finishing fourth overall.

On Thursday, he will be back at the helm of another yacht named Quantum Racing, his own DK 46, in the Rolex Trophy – Rating Series, also off Sydney Heads.

This boat is also representing Australia, along with Stephen Ainsworth’s Reichel/Pugh 60 Loki, in the Rolex Challenge international teams series which is decided on results in the Rolex Trophy – Rating Series and the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

The four-day Rolex Trophy – Rating Series comprises eight races to be sailed this coming Thursday, 15 December through to Sunday, 18 December. There will be three IRC rating divisions:

• Division 0 for yachts with a minimum IRC rating of 1.395. This includes such boats as Alfa Romeo, Wild Oats XI, Konica Minolta, Loki and Vanguard.
• Division 1 for boats below 1.395 to a minimum of 1.210. This includes boats such as Ragamuffin, Flirt, Goldfinger and Yendys.
• Division 2 for yachts with a minimum IRC rating of 1.210 and less than 1.395, including such boats as Quantum Racing, Nips N Tux and Fuzzy Logic.

While the Rolex Trophy is a stand-alone regatta for individual yachts, most of them entrants for the 2005 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, it is a key component of the Rolex Challenge teams series and a significant pointer to the IRC handicap prospects in the Rolex Sydney Hobart.

Teams in the Rolex Challenge international teams event must include one boat from Divisions 0 and 1 and one from Division 2 and, in addition to the Australian team, there will be two teams representing New South Wales and Victoria.

The imported Corby 49 Flirt, skippered by Chris Dare, and the ILC 40, Fuzzy Logic, owned by Paul Roberts and Bill Lennon, have been chosen to represent Victoria.

The New South Wales Red team comprises Wild Oats XI; Bob Oatley’s newly launched 30m Reichel/Pugh 98 and Roger Hickman’s Farr 43 Wild Rose. The team has an air of nostalgia for international yachtsman Bob Oatley as Wild Rose was his original Wild Oats more than 20 years ago.

Current owner, CYCA vice commodore Roger Hickman sailed the boat to victory in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race in 1993.

The New South Wales Blue team is Syd Fischer’s Farr 50 Ragamuffin and Howard de Torres’ IMX 40 Nips N Tux, which won the Rolex Trophy two years ago.

Apart from the team boats, yachts in the Rolex Trophy – Rating Series that will be contesting the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race include Goldfinger, the former Ichi Ban, now owned by Victorians Peter Blake and Kate Mitchell, John Cameron’s Dibley 42 Fincorp More Witchcraft, David Pescud’s Kaz and Living Doll from Victoria, the Cookson 50 with a canting keel, owned by Michael Hiatt.

Among the prominent non-Hobart entrants are Ginger (Leslie Green), Infinity III (Martin James), Nips N Tux (Howard De Torres) and Vanguard (Dick Cawse), second to the 20 metre Wild Oats in the 2004 Pittwater Coffs race.