Sayonara from 'Sayernara'

by Rob Kothe Sail-World on 3 May 2002 Dual Melbourne to Osaka and Tranz Tasman winner, 'Sayernara' led the 2002 Tranz Tasman race from start to finish

'Sayernara's' new owner, Hong Kong Etch ell sailor Anthony Day only finalised the purchase of Rob Drury's double handed champion racer the day before the race.

Day and his Kiwi crew Mark Findlay won the start, and led out the heads ahead of 'Spirit of Down Under' and then said Sayonara. These two boats continued for 1260 miles, with unchanged positions.

'Sayernara' crossed the line just before 11am Australian Eastern Standard time (10:58:07), almost three hours ahead of the next competitor, to win the Tranz Tasman race again, as she had done in 2000.

The two nuggety South Australians sailors Vince Lamond and Ian Schmidt battled 40 knot winds on the long beat from Kawau Island down into Auckland today aboard 'Spirit of Down Under', crossing the line at 14:38 this afternoon.

Further up the coast north of Bream Head, 'Touchstone' is still a mile ahead of 'Drina', with 'Anteater' now slipping back gradually. The three yachts have now (at 19:30 AEST Friday night) less than 120 miles to sail. Conditions are now easing, with 15-20 knots from the southwest. While the seas were rough earlier today, seas are now beginning to flatten.

Radio Skeds are operated by http://www.pentacomstat.com.au
To discover more about Short Handed sailing go to http://www.ssaa.com.au
The event mini-site is at http://www.sail-world.com/tranztas

About an hour after each sked, the SSAA is posting the radio sked positions, which will display on the Sydney to Auckland charts.

Skeds are at 7:45 and 16:45, progressive handicap positions; distances to the finish along with computed ETA's will be also displayed.

The latest sked can be viewed here

http://www.sail-world.com/tranztas/index.cfm?SRSID=38