Race 1 Multihull regatta at Skandia Geelong Week

by Stuart Bloomfield on 26 Jan 2007 The first day of the Multihull division in the Skandia Geelong Multihull Regatta got off to a good start, with a 30 mile downwind course from Martha’s Cove Marina at Safety Beach to Melbourne.

Most of the fleet spent the night at the new Martha’s Cove Marina, who generously provided berthing facilities adjacent to the starting line set by Safety Beach Sailing Club.

Martyn Riley got off to a good start in his Bloomfield 30 Raw to the Core, leading the fleet off the downwind start line under ‘Big Red’ their largest spinnaker, sailing just above the rhumbline on port jibe. Tony Considine on APC Max had a few problems setting the small spinnaker, but quickly settled down to a solid second place once the chute was set, Willparina II and Redshift followed thereafter.

Positions remained fairly stable as the wind wend left and the boats were lifted above the rhumbline and the course became directly downwind. About ten miles into the race Raw to the Core started to slow and lifted, the crew checked the hulls to find that the leeward hull was full to the gunwhales with water due to a failure in a daggerboard inspection hatch; the amount of water in the hull more than doubled the weight of the boat. The crew quickly went to work to fix the problem and jibed down to cover APC Max, who took the lead from the crippled Raw to the Core and sailed out to a respectable lead.

As the Raw to the Core crew bailed the boat and repaired the damage, they came back to Willparina II and Redshift, but then got back on the pace and started to hunt down APC Max again. APC Max managed to hold out Raw to the Core to take line honours.

Further back in the field Alex MacNaughton was having a brilliant race on his veteran Crowther Spindrift 46 cruising catamaran, Cascade, to take out the handicap victory.

PHC results

Place	Sail No	Boat Name	Elapsd	AHC	HC Cor'd T	Skipper	Class	Score	Design
1	V171	CASCADE	03:21:24	0.821	02:45:21	Alex Macnaughtan	CRUZWSDC	1.0	Crowther 46 Cat
2	V1	APC MAX	02:43:29	1.081	02:56:44	Tony Considine	CRUZNSDN	2.0	Grainger 9.5
3	339	QUICKSKIPS	03:20:33	0.890	02:58:29	Tim Pepperell	CRUZWSDC	3.0	Farrier F9ax
4	V6	SHUTTLE	03:55:50	0.760	02:59:14	David Tapper	CRUZWSDC	4.0	Cirrostratus 10
5	006	SEA SPRINTER	03:30:21	0.857	03:00:16	Dale Gardner-berry	AUDID1	5.0	Corsair Sprint 750
6	21	REDSHIFT	03:21:29	0.896	03:00:32	George Bulka	CRUZWSDC	6.0	Farrier F82r
7	GR297	WILPARINA 11	03:03:27	0.985	03:00:42	Robert Remilton	CRUZWSDC	7.0	Farrier F9r
8	V28	RAW TO THE CORE	02:45:45	1.091	03:00:50	Martyn Riley	OKS	8.0	Bloomfield 30
9	13	THE TRIBE	03:23:26	0.902	03:03:30	John Hardy	CRUZNSDN	9.0	Farrier F82r
10	42	SCHARNHORST	03:30:00	0.901	03:09:13	Ross Mcomish	CRUZWSDB	10.0	Corsair Sprint 750
11	HA320	RAINBOW CONNECTION	04:40:20	0.713	03:19:53	Leon Alexander	PERDR	11.0	Farrier 680
12	292	SIN	04:40:43	0.727	03:24:05	Mark Stafford	AUDID3	12.0	Farrier Tt720
13	V3	SYZYGY	04:06:01	0.890	03:38:57	James Brown	AUDI~TMIRCD3	13.0	F31
DNC	L92	AMANZI 2		1.013		Adrian Waters	CRUZWSDC	16.0	Macgreggor 36
DNC	R1000	NORAJ		0.736		John Sanders	CRUZWSDB	16.0	Seawind 1000