MHYC already a winner with Savills SORC

by Peter Campbell on 20 Nov 2007 Middle Harbour Yacht Club is already a winner with its innovative 30th annual Savills Short Ocean Racing Championship, according to media financial commentator and yachting enthusiast Paul Clitheroe.

Clitheroe, owner/skipper of the Sydney 47 CR Balance, is one of many yachtsman who have entered the new Racer/Cruiser Division of the regatta, providing for a passage race each day for more club-orientated yachts racing on IRC or PHS handicaps with amateur club crews.

Balance is one of 85 yachts entered for the Savills SORC this coming weekend – the traditional two-day lead-up regatta for yachts contesting the Rolex Trophy Series and the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race or the Pittwater Coffs Series and Pittwater to Coffs passage race.

'Middle Harbour Yacht Club and Savills have listened to yacht owners whose boats, such as ours, are not suited to a program of several windward/leeward races each day.

'Gybing downwind with a bowsprit and assymetric spinnaker is not for our types of boats, nor is sailing three to four races a day appreciated by our amateur crews,' added Clitheroe, a member of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia and an entrant in this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

'MHYC’s concept of the short ocean pointscore style of race for IRC and PHS racer/cruisers, with a start and finish in Sydney Harbour each day, already looks a great success, judging by entries for our division.'

The current Balance is third offshore racing yacht owned by Clitheroe. 'Savills has done the right thing for us, and many others, who enjoy sailing with mates on a purely amateur basis,' added Clitheroe, who began his sailing on a country lake in a Sabot.

'We’ve gone up from a 33-footer to a Beneteau 40.7 and now to a Sydney 47 CR…I am looking ahead to something between 55 and 50 feet LOA which is about the maximum for an owner/driver and his amateur crew.

'We have a crew of 13 on Balance, most of us have been sailing together for a long time and enjoy our sailing, happy to finish mid-fleet but even happier for the occasional win or top place like those we have had at Hamilton Island and in offshore passage races.'

Among the other Rolex Sydney Hobart entries also contesting the IRC/PHS Racer/Cruiser class of the Savills Regatta is Andrew Short Marine Brindabella, the famous maxi yacht now owned by marine industry operator Andrew Short.

The grand prix IRC class will have plenty of windward/leeward racing off the Heads with six races scheduled over the two-day regatta, the fleet including Rolex Sydney Hobart Race contenders Wot Yot (Graeme Wood), Wot’s Next (Bill Sykes) and Yendys (Geoff Wood) along with Ginger (Leslie Green), Quest (Bob Steel) and Wild Joe (John David) in IRC Divison 1.

Rolex Sydney Hobart entrants Papillion (Phil Molony) and Quetzalcoatl (Antony Sweetapple) are in IRC Division 2, along with the late Nigel Holman’s Cuckoos Nest, a Sydney 36CR being sailed by his crew in the memory of the 1993 Sydney Hobart winner who passed away two weeks ago at the age of 52.

Also racing offshore will be Farr 40s, Sydney 38s and Sydney 32s while back on Sydney Harbour a large fleet will contest the Savills Seven Island Race, taking the fleet on a sight-seeing tour of Sydney Harbour.

Middle Harbour Yacht Club’s newly elected Commodore, Martin Hill, will be competing in the Farr 40 One Design division at the helm of Estate Master.

MHYC’s Savills Short Ocean Racing Club is celebrating its 30th anniversary but also the fact that it is the longest running yachting regatta in Australia which has attracted support from a high profile sponsor each year since its inception.

Savills is in their third year as sponsor of the Short Ocean Racing Championship. Joining them as supporting sponsors this year are Audi Australia, Seiko and Henri Lloyd.

'We are delighted with our ongoing partnership with Savills, a publicly listed property services company which holds a powerful global position, as it continues to bring prestige and profile to our event,' Commodore Martin Hill said today.

'Savills ongoing commitment has heralded a broader promotional campaign with the addition of the Qantas inflight television promotion throughout November 2007. This reflects the regatta’s reputation as one of the major championships on the Australian sailing calendar and delivers the excitement of our sport to the wider community.

The race management team for the Savills Short Ocean Racing Championship will again consist of MHYC volunteers and staff, led by the club’s Sailing Manager John Hurley, together with the on-water assistance of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia and its volunteers and staff.

Savills SORC website is: www.regatta.savills.com.au

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