Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta - Loki triumphs as Wild Oats falters

by Di Pearson on 6 Mar 2010
Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta day one.

With the Round 1 Audi IRC Australian Championship leader missing from Round 2 at the Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta this weekend, the way was left clear for the other thoroughbreds in Division 1 to make their mark at the Middle Harbour Yacht Club hosted event.

Stephen Ainsworth’s Loki, a Reichel/Pugh 63 Loki (NSW), was first out of Sydney Heads after getting off the Watsons Bay start line quickly at 11.30am, but it wasn’t long before Bob Oatley’s Reichel/Pugh 66 Wild Oats X (NSW) had overhauled her smaller rival, Richards sailing Wild Oats X up the left hand side of the course, while the chasers headed right.

All was well until after the second windward mark rounding and Wild Oats X seemed to flounder and retired from the race. Richards and his crew took the boat back to Woolwich and it is believed they have suffered problems with the mechanism that works the canting keel. All in all, a disappointing day for Wild Oats X, which has Adrienne Cahalan, the around the world speed-breaking sailor, aboard as navigator.

From there on, it was all Loki’s day, Ainsworth taking the gun for first over the line and backing up to win the race overall. Geoff Ross and his crew on Yendys, a Reichel/Pugh 55 (NSW), was next home and finished second overall with Leslie Green’s Ginger (NSW) third.

Back at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, where the top two yachts live, both Ainsworth and Ross said they enjoyed the race - the course - and its associated conditions.

'The boat’s in great condition; it’s tuned up and looking good,' said Ainsworth who had returned from an overseas skiing holiday to find his internationally acclaimed sailing master Gordon Maguire had sailed his yacht to a double win in the Flinders Islet Race two weeks ago.

'We were first out of the Heads, and that’s a good start to anyone’s regatta,' Ainsworth said.

'We had our rig tuned just right for the conditions (a north-easterly that went more north as the race wore on, reaching 15-16 knots) and we had good boat speed and really didn’t make any mistakes,' said Ainsworth, who was definite he would be on the start line for the remaining two events of the Audi IRC Championship; the Audi Sydney Gold Coast Race in July and Audi Hamilton Island Race Week in August.

'We’ll be back in good shape again tomorrow,' said Ainsworth adding, I was sorry to see Wild Oats pull out – you don’t like to see that happen.

For his part, Ross praised the organisers for an excellent race course. 'It was a perfect day on the water and I loved the course – it was a bit different to the norm,' he said of the three-lap windward/leeward course that started in Watsons Bay, went offshore and finished in the Harbour at Rushcutters Bay.

Ross, who had three time 49er world champion and Sydney 2000 Olympian Chris Nicholson calling tactics, commented: 'The racing was so tight. Loki’s crew did a great job. With the breeze shifts and the pressure up and down you had to thread your way through the course and they did the best job today.'

The Sydney yachtsman confessed that boat speed was the key to beating Loki and Wild Oats X, should she be repaired in time, tomorrow.

In other IRC results today, Ray Hudson sailed Next Moment to a win in Division 2 from Howard Piggott’s Flying Cloud (NSW) and Paul Clitheroe’s Balance, with Peter Horn’s Canute (NSW) fourth.

Howard Piggott won Division 2 of the inaugural Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta in 2006 and went on to win a brand new Audi A4 Avant after defeating other divisional winners in the Audi Final Challenge, while Peter Horn was the outstanding Division 2 winner at Audi Victoria Week in January.

Second place getter in Division 3 at Audi Victoria Week, Harvey Milne’s Aroona (NSW) won Division 3 today from Matthew Bassett’s Local Hero, representing host MHYC with a second MHYC member, Andrew Hurt, steering Onya into third place.

The Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta concludes tomorrow, with racing expected to get underway from 11.30am .

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www.audi.com.au/sailing