Ginger challenges Hobart race hopefuls

by Rob Mundle on 25 Nov 2006 The first day of racing in The Savills Short Ocean Racing Championship saw two of the top contenders for handicap honours in the up-coming Rolex Sydney to Hobart race matched by an outsider.

In the IRC class championship Leslie Green’s Swan 60, Ginger, is tied for first place on the points table with Stephen Ainsworth’s powerful 60-footer, Loki. Ray Roberts’ Cookson 50, Quantum Racing, is third. Loki and Quantum Racing are two of the favourites for the ultimate prize in the Hobart race, the Tattersalls Cup, which is awarded to the yacht that wins on handicap.

Tomorrow all three yachts will battle it out to decide the winner of The Savills Short Ocean Racing Championship, and the result could well be influenced by a dramatic change in the weather that is expected overnight. After sailing in idyllic conditions today – a light northeasterly breeze and near calm seas – a forecast southerly buster could deliver winds of 25 knots and rough seas tomorrow.

Race organisers will be keeping a close watch on the conditions and if they are too extreme then racing for all five divisions will be staged on courses inside Sydney Harbour.

The last minute decision by Steven David to enter his canting keel racer, Wild Joe, into the Savills Championship was expected to bring ever more intense competition into the IRC division, but that didn’t eventuate today.

Wild Joe, which beat Loki into first place in the Big Boat division at this year’s Race Week at Hamilton Island, could only manage a fourth and fifth today and is tied for fourth on points with Graeme Wood’s impressive looking TP52, Wot Yot.

IRC Class Division 1

Place Sail No Name Helmsman Total

1 601 Ginger Leslie Green 2 1 3
2 AUS60000 Loki Stephen Ainsworth 1 2 3
3 8899 Quantum Racing Ray Roberts 3 3 6
4 7002 Wild Joe Steven David 4 5 9
5 6952 Wot Yot Graeme Wood 5 4 9
6 4100 Terra Firma Nicholas Bartels 6 6 12
7 7771 Balance Paul Clitheroe 7 7 14
8 SYD222 You're Hired Geoff Morgan & Andrew Banks 8 10 18
9 6838 Splash Gordon Stephen Ellis 9 9 18
10 MH7 Pla Loma IV Rob Reynolds 10 8 18
PROVISIONAL SUBJECT TO AUDIT

IRC Class Division 2

Place Sail No Name Helmsman Total

1 10447 Le Billet Bill Ebsary 1 1 2
2 N8 Archambault Glenn Coulton 2 3 5
3 8924 Pretty Fly II Colin & Gladys Woods 6 2 8
4 6461 Blackadder Stephen Thomas 3 5 8 P
5 6595 Brilliant Howard Piggott 4 4 8
6 8008 Occasional Course Language Warwick Sherman 8 6 14
7 5995 Nips - N - Tux Howard de Torres 7 7 14 P
8 MH442 Toybox Ian Box 5 11 16
9 8935 Hijinx Ray Carless 9 8 17
10 MYC2 Cuckoos Nest Vanesa Dudley 10 9 19
11 AUS6151 Optimumm Guy Stening 11 10 21
12 4960 MRX Jon Short & Miles Bastick 13 12 25
13 6584 Bear Necessity Andrew & Pauline Dally 12 13 25
14 PH3000 London Calling Stuart Bancroft 14 14 28
15 N40 Cabernet Sauvignon Stephen Mackay 15 15 30
PROVISIONAL SUBJECT TO AUDIT

PHS Division

Place Sail No Name Helmsman Total

1 8402 Fincorp More Witchcraft John Cameron 2 1 3
2 MH11 Viva La Vita Tony Bates 1 3 4
3 7878 Sailors With Disabilities David Pescud 3 5 8
4 8005 Merlin John Lehmann 7 2 9
5 3649 Disko Trooper Jules Hall 4 6 10
6 195 Samarkand Walter Carpenter 6 4 10
7 6232 Mortgage Choice Rumba Stephanie Cook 5 7 12
8 HKG56 Cool Philip Odouard 10 8 18
PROVISIONAL SUBJECT TO AUDIT

Sydney 32 Division

Place Sail No Name Helmsman Total

1 6432 IF Anna & Martin Cross 1 1 2
2 6525 Reality John Groves 2 2 4
3 6444 Quickie Stuart Muirhead 4 4 8
4 6607 Wirrajurnd Andy Kearman 3 6 9
5 6413 Gusto Angus Grinham 6 3 9
6 8832 Larrikin Ross Glasson 5 5 10
7 6441 Groove Hugh Torode 9 9 18
PROVISIONAL SUBJECT TO AUDIT

Sydney 38 Division

Place Sail No Name Helmsman Total

1 6338 Shining Sea Stephen Kulmar 1 4 1 1 7
2 R38 Outlaw Alan & Tom Quick 2 3 3 2 10
3 6211 Transfusion Gudio Belgiorno-Nettis 3 1 2 9 15
4 7777 Calibre Geoff Bonus 11 5 5 3 24
5 6418 Acuity Tony Walls 8 7 4 5 24
6 6231 Stonybroke Robbin Tedder 6 2 14 4 26
7 6157 The Tavern Ian Guanaria & Ian McDiarmuid 4 15 7 6 32
8 SM2 Challenge Lou Abrahams 12 6 10 10 38
9 3838 Zen Gordon Ketelby 5 10 17 7 39
10 6255 Eye Candy - C Chris Dawson 13 11 9 12 45
11 8938 Limit Alan Brierty 9 12 6 19 46
15 6305 Easy Tiger Chris Way 17 14 8 8 47
12 6492 Contentious Issue - C Geoff Masters 16 8 11 13 48
13 6095 Uplift Darryl Hodgkinson 7 16 12 14 49
14 6073 Swish - C Steven Proud 10 9 16 15 50
16 R33 Chutzpah Bruce Taylor 14 13 15 16 58
17 6068 Star Dean-Willcocks Ola Andersen 20 18 18 11 67
18 SM6083 Scarlet Runner - C Robert Date 18 17 19 17 71
19 8838 The Business Ferrguson/Halliday 19 20 13 20 72
20 MH60 Horwath BRI Tony Levett 15 21 20 18 74
21 6051 The Bigger Picture TBP Syndicate 21 19 21 22 83
PROVISIONAL SUBJECT TO AUDIT

Farr 40 Division

Place Sail No Name Helmsman Total

1 AUS8883 Kokomo Lang Walker 1 1 1 1 4
2 40063 White Cloud Brett Neill 2 2 5 2 11
3 AUS6508 Black Snake Michael Milne 3 3 3 3 12
4 615 Estate Master Martin Hill 4 4 4 4 16
5 AUS5077 Rushcutter Don Telford 5 5 2 5 17
6 51408 Revolution Edake Jeff Carter 8 6 6 7 27
7 6422 Andrew Short Marine Andrew Short 6 8 7 6 27
8 40021 Short Shipped Matthew Short 7 7 8 8 30

PROVISIONAL SUBJECT TO AUDIT