Wild, wild westerlies for Great Veterans Race and Ladies Day Race

by Jennifer Crooks on 27 Apr 2009 The season opening of the Audi Winter Series – the annual Great Veterans Race and the Ladies Day Race were greeted with wild westerly winds. 50 yachts started in the Ladies Day, with fourteen Veterans taking to the water. Racing commenced on time in an 18-24 knot westerly.

After thirty minutes of racing the breeze strengthened to 28-32 knots, and PRO John Hurley had to shorten the course due to the strong conditions. 'There were some beautifully set-up yachts out there today – and they were the ones that had great races,' said John.

The Great Veterans Race was won by Nick Cassim’s Lolita, with Don Mickleborough’s Southerly second and Greg Maughan’s Syonara third.

'I’ve raced in every one of the Great Veterans race since their inception. It’s my fourth win and definitely the best one,' said Nick Cassim after the prize giving.

'After 45 years of ownership, Lolita’s never been better. I was pleased to see that there were 3 Robert Clark designed boats in the fleet – us, Caprice of Huon and Lass O’Luss. Good wooden boats can never die!' concluded Nick.

The Ladies Day race was one full of action and red ‘Freedom from MS Regatta’ shirts. A total of ten boats had guests on board who had made a donation to MS, with six of those guests having MS themselves.

Jeremy Wright, Executive Director of MS Research Australia was pleased with today’s inaugural event.

'I am absolutely thrilled with today’s event – it was a wonderful day for sailing and it was a pleasure to introduce more people to the sport of sailing. Thank you to the CYCA and the boat owners for their support of this regatta.' concluded Jeremy.

For Vivienne MacMahon, winner of Non Spinnaker 1 Division on Marloo, today was just as exciting as racing around Eastern Creek on Thursday.

'This was equally as exciting as driving my Aston Martin around Eastern Creek race track on Thursday! I discovered today that yachts don’t have traction control!' said Vivienne.

Lulu Roseman, helming on Losel placed second in non spinnaker division 1 with Debra Barker on Alpha Carinae third.

Tess Heiligers won Non spinnaker division 2 on Hubcap II, with Rachel Grant on Gusto second and Claire Chalmers on Hornblower third.

Paula Bertoli, helming on Quetzalcoatl and participating in the Freedom from MS Regatta, won Spinnaker Division 1.

'It was such as exhilarating experience especially being helmperson for such a tight professional Rolex Sydney Hobart crew. We won – I am stoked!' said Paula.

Second behind Quetzalcoatl was Sue Crafer on The SubZero Goat, with Julia Owens on Celestial third.

In Spinnaker Division 2, Dawn Murray on Imagine won with Nella Moore on Velocity second and Becc Wyatt on Double Trouble third.

For Great Veterans Results please log on to http://www.cyca.com.au/editorial.asp?key=1876

For Ladies Day Results please log on to http://www.cyca.com.au/editorial.asp?key=4279

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