Fierce competition - Abel Point Yacht Sales trophy

by Ian Grant on 28 May 2007
Pioneer Bay will become a tactical yacht racing bullring when the competitive Whitsunday Sailing Club fleet contest the final race of the Abel Point Yacht Sales trophy off Airlie Beach this week.

Five very competitive crews separated by a narrow one penalty point margin are naturally keeping their final race strategy a closely guarded secret as the count down to decide the May series champion heads for an exciting tactical dogfight.

Experienced skipper Roger Down forced the five race series into a tactical dogfight when he steered True Love to a 3 second corrected handicap win over Craig Piccinelli’s Wobbly Boot, those vital 3 seconds proved the difference between Wobbly Boot joining a five way tie at the top of the leader board while the consistent Treasure skippered by veteran Harold Menelaus claimed the important third place points to hold a chance in the five boat battle for the trophy.

Shannon Hart’s Mustard Cutter presently retains a precarious grip on the series lead with a 1-4-1-8 (14pts) to head the point score on count back over the John Galloway helmed Queensland Marine Services 3-1-6-5 (14pts) followed by Treasure 6-3-2-3 also on 14 points while Wobbly Boot 4-5-4-2 remains in contention on 15 points.

After the four close tactical races contested in a varied range of winds Mustard Cutter racing with the highest rating of .856 presently holds the fastest corrected handicap aggregate by 53 seconds from Treasure with another 10 seconds to Queensland Marine Services.

The important option to contest a high percentage of the final in clean uncontested wind will be a priority for all five crews.

But the chance of this becoming a reality seems remote with so much individual pride resting on the result.

Shannon Hart and his Mustard Cutter crew have already proved with two important line and handicap wins that the speed potential is there to dominate the important first use of the wind but will the pace be consistent enough to allow the exciting Thompson sports boat to out sail her .856 rating.

John Galloway and the Queensland Marine Services crew face a similar challenge to ward off the challenges from the lower handicap rated Treasure (.761) and Wobbly Boot .781.

Predicting the overall result is far too close to call after the leader Mustard Cutter finished with a disappointing 8th while Queensland Marine Services was only 40 seconds faster to finish 5th in last weeks important 4th race.

Naturally all crews will have a ‘game plan’ but the pressure will be on them to successfully execute the important handicap rated speed to finish with the desired result to crown them as the Abel Point Yacht Sales trophy champion for 2007.