Last boat finishes Sydney Mackay Yacht Race

by Lisa Ratcliff on 5 Aug 2006 The last boat in the inaugural Sydney Mackay Yacht Race has finished the testing 903 nautical mile passage and handicap results have been finalised with Michael Hiatt’s Victorian Cookson 50 Living Doll the confirmed IRC overall winner and Darren Cooney’s Inner Circle the best of the PHS boats.

Yesterday morning the smallest boat in fleet, Anthony Paterson’s Tow Truck was hurtling towards a first or at least a second IRC podium place in a 25 knot sou’easter averaging 15 knots of boat speed when their fast ride to the finish cruelly came to an abrupt halt.

'The forecast was for it to hold but we ended up in zero wind,' said a circumspect navigator Brett Filby this morning from Mackay Yacht Club where they are having a 'small boat reflection'.

'We sailed for five hours at less than one a half knots then sat off Prudhoe Island, the final rounding mark, becalmed for three hours. At that stage we really wanted to be off the boat,' he admitted.

This 'park up', one of many they and the rest of the fleet experienced from the time they set off from Sydney Harbour at 1.00pm last Saturday, cost them heavily. It allowed Ed Psaltis’ AFR Midnight Rambler from Sydney to slip into second place and Grant Wharington’s line honours winner Skandia from Melbourne to claim third on IRC handicap.

'We always seemed to be in the wrong place for the wind angle,' admitted Filby.

The Lake Macquarie crew still enjoyed themselves immensely, passing the time by telling 'gag after gag' and eagerly awaiting the contents of Paterson’s pressure cooker to be revealed at mealtimes, this trip being the first time hot food has been served up.

'The more people told us we shouldn’t enter a race this long on a little boat, the more interested we were,' Filby added.

Darren Cooney’s Inner Circle, also from Lake Macquarie on the NSW central coast, was the final boat to finish just before 11.00am this morning.

Cooney commented, 'it was a fantastic race and we can’t wait to do it again next year.'

A PHS win capped off 6 days 21 hours at sea for Cooney and his crew who are 'just a regular bunch of guys' according to the owner.

Tow Truck and the IOR Farr 40 Inner Circle sail for Lake Macquarie Yacht Club. They both took on the 628 nautical mile Rolex Sydney Hobart last December and the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s newest and longest ocean race also appealed to their sense of adventure.

'We just run sweeper for Tow Truck,' laughed Cooney. 'If they ever get into trouble, they know we’ll be along to help them'.

Mackay Marina Village sales and marketing manager Peter Hansen is delighted with the influx of boats this weekend with the finish of the inaugural Sydney Mackay Yacht Race and the Port Vila to Mackay Race.

'I hope this is the beginning of a tradition which sees the Sydney Mackay grow to become the main feeder to the regattas at Airlie Beach and Hamilton Island. In 10 years time I’d like to see 50 boats on the start line. It’s about the activity it creates for local business and it’s about discovering Mackay,' he said.

Full results, stories and photos available from http://mackay.cyca.com.au