Strong Winds for Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta Day 1

by Di Pearson on 1 Mar 2008 Strong and gusty southerly winds on Sydney Harbour today sorted the tough from the not so tough on the opening day of the Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta this afternoon.

Adding to winds that reached 25 knots, confused seas resulted in race officials calling a halt to racing for the Adams 10, Sydney 32 and Sports Boats on the Manly Circle which caused mixed emotions amongst crews.

“We were pretty disappointed with the decision to call off racing in our division” said Chris Williams, skipper of Team G.U.E.

“Yeah, there were a few wipe outs, some weren’t handling it too well, but we were OK,” said Anthony Nossiter, a member of the Australian Sailing Team of which Audi is a major sponsor.

Sailing on his Dad Ben’s Adams 10 Sirius, Nossiter continued: “It was a bit of fun out there, I guess it built to around 25 knots, so we only got one race in before they canned racing. We’ll be back tomorrow to try to win the new Audi A4.”

For others it was case of testing the boat handling skills. While the more experienced handled the conditions with aplomb, others suffered stubborn wineglasses, big round-ups and broaches under spinnaker in front of an appreciative audience. One such boat was Rum Jungle (Scott Russell) racing in the PHS Spinnaker Division 1.

It was even worse for Cloud Nine (Ron Hayden) in the same division, a crew member reporting the yacht had hit rocks, possibly lost steerage and needed assistance.

“We’d just rounded the mark in Rose Bay and put up our spinnaker. We got hit by a big gust that laid us over. Our spinnaker sheet wrapped around the propeller so we had no propulsion and drifted onto the rocks,” said crew member Mike Pengelly from onboard the yacht.

“The Volunteer Coastal Patrol got us off the rocks and towed us to Noakes Rigging at Woolwich. We are taking a bit of water, but we have a guy under the boat now trying to see where the leak is coming from, but at least everyone onboard is OK and our manual bilge pump worked fine,” he said.

It Happens (Grant Dawson) in PHS Division 2, was one of several yachts to become a casualty in the harsh conditions on the Harbour when the vessel broached mid race.

In another incident, the TP52 Quest, owned by Bob Steel and skippered by Jamie MacPhail in IRC Division 1, suffered gear failure when the starboard lifeline came loose and the pulpit came adrift.

“We’ll be fixed and racing tomorrow. We might just take things a little easier,” MacPhail said. Crew member Adam Workman told of the shock of suddenly finding himself “half on the boat and half off.”

Workman, uninjured told: “I went over the side pretty quick, but we’ve got a good team and they got me back on board just as fast.” Quest made a name for herself at Skandia Geelong Week’s Audi Series in January and is currently joint leader of the Audi IRC Championship.

Website: www.sydneyharbourregatta.com