Close racing for Winter Pointscores

by Peter Campbell on 4 Jun 2002 Only a handful of points separate the leading yachts in almost every division of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's 2002 BMW Sydney Winter Series after eight races, and just five to sail, on Sydney Harbour.

The CYCA today issued the official pointscore taking into account for the first time the two allowable discard races. The top boats will need consistent results over the final five Sundays to hold their positions as their higher handicaps begin to take their toll and new winners emerge almost every week.

Eight points is the clearest margin in any division and that is in Division J, the popular non-spinnaker division which sees Privateer (William Morrow) on 321 points, comfortably ahead of Tickalara (Livermore Syndicate) on 313 and Wings Three (Paul Billingham and Rob Moodie) on 312 points.

In Division G yesterday, the front marker Katinka, owned by father and son Des and Paul O'Connell, scored its second successive win but still languishes at ninth on the scoreboard. Peter Howes' Sea Rug Hoo Haa overall lead now cut to just two points, on 310 points, ahead of the recently consistent Syonara (G.Maughan) on 308 points and the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club's Clewless (Guy Irwin) on 306 points.

Lassez Faire (J.Hill and G.Connery) closed the gap with a win in Division F yesterday to be on 312 points, in second place behind Magic (Daid Wright) on 316 points while in third place is the all-women crew of Agent 88, skippered by Pauline Redmond on 309 points.

Only three points separate the top three boats in Division E after two discards. Redeemer (Michael Phillips) has notched up 314 points, Caprice of Huon (David Champtaloup) is on 312 and Stephen Roach's Casablanca has 3121 points.

The Tribal Syndicate's Spearhead has yet to win a race in this year's BMW Sydney Winter Series but consistent high placings see her on 310 points in Division D, followed by Balmain Experience (D.Fris-Clark) from Balmain Sailing Club on 307 and Deception (David Mason) on 306 points.

The fiercely competitive Division C has the syndicate-owned harbour racer Akela on 304 points after two discards, with the next three boats each on 298 - Peugeot Racing (Peter Whitford), CYCA Commodore Hans Sommer's Sommerbreeze and Hocus Pocus (M.Pennet), just one point ahead of The Amateurs (Jonathan Gibson) and Jayargee (Stephen Giffin) on 297 points each.

The pressure is on in Division G which includes many offshore racing boats preparing for July's Sydney - Gold Coast Race. After eight races, Champagne on Ice (Phillip and Nada Dickinson) is on 307 points after the two discards, just two points ahead of the Pacific Sailing School's Farr 50, Cadenza, while in third place is Neil Whiston's Sydney 38, Fruit Machine on 301 points.

Only one point separates the two top boats in Division A, with John Woodruff's Murray 50, The Dreamtime, on 309 points and CYCA Vice Commodore Martin James' Farr 65, Infinity III, on 308 points. Sharing third place on 304 points are Geoff Lee's Sayer 42, Taurus VIII, and Neville Crichton's Farr 40 One Design, Team Shockwave.

Sunday saw the first win of the 2002 BMW Winter Series for Australian IRC Champion, Loki, Stephen Ainsworth's Swann 44 from Expresso Forte (Laurence Freedman) and UBS Wild Thing (Geoff Lavis).