Sydney Newcastle Yacht - No race record but fight on for Handicap win

by Di Pearson on 20 Mar 2010 Audi Sydney Offshore Newcastle Yacht Race update.

This morning at 7.30am Bob Oatley’s line honours chaser Wild Oats XI was sailing off Cabbage Tree Island with an estimated time of arrival at the finish line of the Audi Sydney Offshore Newcastle Yacht Race of 10.00am - Stephen Ainsworth’s race record of 15 hrs 57 mins 53 secs, set with Loki last year, safe for this year.

At 1.40am, Wild Oats XI (NSW), with Mark Richards skippering, was making 11 knots in around 10 knots of northerly breeze, 15 nautical miles east of Smiths Lake, with 95nm still left to race.

Peter Millard had the 30 metre Lahana (Qld), the former Konica Minolta well positioned, surprisingly keeping her larger contemporary within corralling distance, just 8 nautical miles off the leader’s transom and travelling at the same speed. Loki, with renowned yachtsman Gordon Maguire at the helm, has kept up the pace in third place on line overnight.

Wild Oats XI rounded the Crowdy Head turning mark at 3.59am this morning. At 7.15am this morning, she was making 9.2 knots of boat speed with 43 nautical miles to go to the finish line on the Hunter River in Newcastle.

Lahana was around 15 nautical miles behind the leader which put on a spurt of speed, travelling at 18 knots in the Crowdy Head vicinity earlier this morning. Shortly after 7.00am, she was east of Cabbage Tree Island, heading towards the coast after sailing a little further to sea.

Loki was 16nm astern of Lahana shortly after 7.00am, Michael Bellingham reporting from the RP63 shortly after 7.00am this morning: 'We haven’t seen anyone all night. We just went around the mark and it is nice to still have some breeze - around 12 knots with plenty of set and calm seas.

'We had a good night sailing; everyone is enthusiastic, looking for the breeze to stay in,' said Bellingham who predicted they would cross the finish line around 2.00pm today.

In the handicap stakes, David Beak’s Beneteau First 44.7, Mr Beaks Ribs (NSW) leads the race overall under IRC from Geoff Ross’ RP 55 Yendys with gun sailor Chris Nicholson skippering, and Loki. Ed Psaltis/Bob Thomas’ AFR Midnight Rambler, which is currently in fourth place overall, is in the race to win the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s 2009/2010 Blue Water Pointscore, which will be decided at the end of this race.

Beak and Psaltis/Thomas are placed first in Division 2 (Beak is second) and also lead under the new ORCi rule from Steven Proud’s Sydney 38 Swish (NSW) and Syd Fischer’s TP52 Ragamuffin (NSW).

Navigator Will Oxley reported from Yendys at 7.40am: 'We should finish around 3.30pm. We had good conditions overnight and a nice tactical battle with our opposition – Loki is inshore of us and the 50s are offshore,' he said, referring to Quest and Ragamuffin, which are in a battle of their own.

'The current is making life very interesting! This is actually a great racetrack - and having the mark offshore like this has opened up a lot more tactical options - good job CYCA,' an eager Oxley commented.

Fischer is aiming at winning his 10th Blue Water Point Score, awarded to the top IRC yacht in the series, but he needs to beat Quest and AFR Midnight Rambler which are only one and two points behind him respectively. Both are in front of him this morning; Bob Steel’s TP52 Quest (NSW) is in 12th overall, Ragamuffin just one place behind.

Of the two Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club entries, Phil Arnell’s Farr 40 Anger Management is 16th overall under IRC and One for the Road, the Northshore 37 owned by Kym Butler, is second overall in PHS behind Bruce Dover’s EZ Street from NSW after an inauspicious start on Sydney Harbour yesterday.

While Menace, Niven James’ Phillips/Simpson 11.7 from Lake Macquarie, is 18th overall in the 24-boat fleet after falling into a hole, sailing too close to the coast with Tony Kirby’s Patrice Six and John Taylor’s Allegro, both from NSW.

The Audi Sydney Offshore Newcastle Yacht Race, organised by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, started yesterday on Sydney Harbour and is the final race of the Blue Water Pointscore and the Tasman Series for the PHS trophy.

Howard de Torres’ Nips-N-Tux is the only retirement from the 213 nautical mile race after tearing her mainsail at around 1.00am this morning. She was off Newcastle and headed straight to the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club which is finishing the race.

http://sydneynewcastle.cyca.com.au