Spies defends Sailing South title

by Peter Campbell on 6 Jan 2006 Sydney yachtsman Michael Spies today added back-to-back wins in the Boag’s Sailing South Race Week to an illustrious career in sailing that has ranged from wins with skiffs to maxi ocean racing boats.

At the helm of his Beneteau 44.7, Sirromet Life Style Wine, Spies clinched victory with four wins on the final day of racing on Hobart’s Derwent River in conditions that ranged from a frustrating drifter to a full-on seabreeze that kicked in to 15 knots.

Sirromet Life Style Wines sailed a remarkably consistent Race Week, with a 1-4-1-1 1-1 scoreboard to finish with 5 points in winning the IRC division. Provisional second place has gone to Quantum Racing, Ray Roberts’ DK 46, also from Sydney, with 12 points, third to veteran Hobart yachtsman Don Calvert with his 21-year-old, Tony Castro-designed timber boat Intrigue on 20 points.

Another Sydney boat, Roger Hickman’s Farr 43 Wild Rose finished fourth on 26 points.

Final results for the IRC and PHS Divisions are provisional, pending the hearing of several protests late this afternoon, but the outcome of these will not effect the win by Spies and his boat. However, they may change minor placings in the IRC and PHS Division One.

Sirromet Life Style Wines, Quantum Racing and Whistler are all involved in the protest hearing arising from collisions at the start of the long distance race two, but they will be able to discard this race if penalised without affecting their final standings. Late this afternoon Michael Spies officially advised the Race Committee that he had withdrawn from the race, in which Sirromet Life Style Wine had placed fourth on corrected time.

Whilst the IRC overall series again went to a visiting Sydney yacht, local boats dominated results in the PHS and Cruiser classes, which saw intense competition for top honours.

Principal race officer Roberty ‘Biddy’ Badenach gave the 42-boat fleet a great final day of sailing to make up for storm-enforced cancellation of all races on Tuesday.

The IRC and PHS classes sailed four short windward/leeward races to complete their six-race series whilst the Cruiser classes sailed a distance race and a shorter harbour race to complete their five-race series.

Spies must rank as one of Australia’s most versatile and successful sailors, noted for his ability to optimise yachts and for his sailing skills in all types of boats.

He was co-skipper of the Volvo 60 Nokia when it took line honours and set a race record in the 1999 Rolex Sydney Hobart (beaten by the super maxi Wild Oats XI in the recent 2005 Race) and in 2003 he skippered his Beneteau 40.7 First National Real Estate to an IRC Overall win in the Sydney Hobart Race.

Last year, skippering his current Beneteau 44.7, then racing as First National Real Estate, he won Sailing South Race Week in Hobart and then sailed the boat to Victoria to win the Skandia Geelong Week. Last August he won the IRC Cruising division at Hamilton Island Race Week after earlier in the year being part of the winning Australian crew in the 11-Metre Class World championship in Europe – for the second time,

And on the eve of the recent Sydney Hobart Race he sailed his high performance 12ft skiff to a second overall in the NSW State Championships.

Today’s racing began in a light north-westerly breeze with Ray Roberts’ DK46 Quantum Racing leading all the way for a comfortable fleet win from the well-sailed Farr 40 One Design class boat Wired, skippered by former Dragon champion Stephen Boyes, with Sirromet Life Style third to finish. However, on corrected time Sirromet Life Style Wine won from Quantum Racing and Wired.

Unfortunately, the breeze became fickle and very light during the second race with the lead changing four times between local yacht Intrigue (Don Calvert), Sirromet Life Style Wine, Quantum Racing and Wired which ended up getting the gun. Once again, Spies took the IRC handicap honours from Wired and Intrigue.

However, by the time the third race of the day had started the forecast south-easterly seabreeze had come up the Derwent to provide exhilarating race for the final two heats of yet another great Boag’s Sailing South Race Week on the River Derwent and Storm Bay.

Quantum Racing, with Tasmanians Andrew Hunn on the helm and Stephen Shields calling tactics, sailed two splendid races but could not hold her time against Sirromet Life Style Wine. The Beneteau 44.7 won both final races from Quantum Racing with the Farr 37 Pippin (David Taylor) placing third in both races.

In PHS Division One, which included most boat that contested the IRC division, provisional first place has gone to the Hobart yacht Whistler, a Sydney 38 skippered by David Rees on 22 points, beating Pippin by just one point. Third place went to Sirroment Life Style Wines on 29 points.

The red-hulled Farr 31 Wild Fire, skippered by David Willan, has won PHS Division with 10 points from a series that included three wins, a second and a fifth. Madman’s Woodyard (Adrian Peterson) finished second on 16 points, third going to Mishief (Adrian West) on 19 points.

A countback of placings was needed to decide the winner of the small but highly competitive Cruiser Class One. Atilla (John Hunn) and Natelle II (Phillip Jackman) each finished with 9 points, but the countback went to Atilla which had two wins in the five-race series. Third place on 10 points went to Quality Equipment (Alf Doedens).

The Cruise Class Two series of five races saw a win for Tarremah, skippered by Larry Duncan with 7 points from a series of two wins, a second, a third and fifth. Second place went to Tihany (Julius Szolvik) on 11 points and Don’t Bug Me (Peter Bugg) on 12 points.