Woman skipper wins 83rd Bruny Island Race

by Peter Campbell on 8 Feb 2009
For the second successive year in its 111-year history, a woman skipper has won the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania’s Juicy Isle Bruny Island Race, with an IRC overall victory going to Sally Rattle with her Archambault 35 Archie.

The 83rd Bruny Island Race is Rattle’s third major race in Tasmanian waters since she began racing offshore only three seasons ago, her other wins with Archie being the 2007 Maria Island Race and the 2008 Melbourne to Hobart Race.

Last year Dianne Barkas became the first woman to win the Bruny Island Race, sailing her Sydney 38 Asylum and while she raced again this year, Asylum placed midfleet.

On provisional corrected times, the well-rated Archie won the IRC division from line honours winner Marineline/Focal, the Bakewell-White 45 skippered by Gary Smith, and six times past winner Intrigue, the Castro 40 owned by Don Calvert but skippered by his son David.

The French-designed Archie was 13th boat to complete the 89 nautical mile circumnavigation of the elongated island south of Hobart, comprising an ocean leg down the outside of Bruny Island and then a leg up the winding reaches of the d’Entrestreaux Channel which divides the island from the southern Tasmanian mainland.

Archie finished at 00.02.28 hours this morning, close astern of a group of ten boats that crossed the line off Hobart’s Castray Esplanade less than 40 minutes apart.

Ahead of this group were line honours winner Marineline/Focal and Tony Lyall’s Sydney Hobart racer Valheru, but Archie beat them all on handicap.

Marineline/Focal regained the lead only two miles from the Castray Esplanade finish after the leading yacht Helsal III, Rob Fisher’s Adams 20, ran aground on Sandy Bay Point shortly after 2100 hours last evening, forcing her retirement.
Attempting to back off under engine, the yacht’s propeller became fouled by a rope and she had to be towed to the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania’s mariner at Sandy Bay.

In provisional results announced by principal race officer Roger Martin today, Archie beat Marineline/Focal by six minutes and 16 seconds with just under one minute to the third placed Intrigue. In fourth place overall came David Taylor Sydney 36 Pisces, followed by Jeff Cordell’s Mumm 36 Host Plus Executive.

Smaller boats fought out the PHS division, with the 9m class yachts Jigsaw (Neil Snare) and Wildfire (Malcolm Robinson) placing first and second, just under three minutes apart on corrected time.

Third place went to Rumbeat (Justin Barr), followed by Masquerade (Tony Harman) and Marineline/Focal on corrected time.

The Juicy Isle Bruny Island Race was sailed in moderate north to north-westerly breezes, with the fleet enjoying a fast spinnaker run down the Derwent and then into Storm Bay and the ocean side of Bruny.

Wind direction and strength varied in the Channel and later for the final leg bck up the river, with Marineline/Focal enjoying a spinnaker reach to the finish at 21:53:47 for an elapsed time of 13 hours 23 minutes 47 seconds.