Sail Port Stephens - Big left hander an ‘Edake’ for Margaret Rintoul V

by Sail Port Stephens Media on 13 Apr 2010 In a battle between two Division one yachts in the picturesque Pub to Pub race for the Commodore’s Cup at Sail Port Stephens today, the crew on Jeff Carter’s line honours winner, Edake (as in ‘headache’), cheered more loudly than they might normally have when they pipped Margaret Rintoul V to the post in the 14.2 nautical mile race course that took the Division one and two fleets around the bay and some of NSW’s most beautiful scenery.

Why was the cheering so loud? Firstly, the two yachts are fellow Middle Harbour Yacht Club members in Sydney, so the friendly rivalry has been on since Day one. Secondly, Edake is a Farr 40, measuring in at around 12 metres, while the famously named Rintoul is 18.5 metres.

The two challenged each other around the course early on, Edake leading the fleet off the D’Albora Marina breakwater start line under spinnaker in light up and down pressure that had chutes billowing, then collapsing.

Carter and his crew looked set for a easy win midway through the race, with a handy lead over Rintoul, but the bigger yacht overtook her nemesis on the reach to Soldiers Point and kept up the lead around little Boondaba Island.

Edake’s crew kept the pressure on and just when it seemed to be over, Rintoul V was caught out by a big left-hand shift just short of the finish line. A jammed chute didn’t help matters any, and over standing the mark as the crew fought to free it from the jammer, Edake came sailing to the line in good pressure – no spinnaker to worry about – and pipped the larger boat to the post.

'Edake and the rest of the fleet should thank us for that – everyone behind us saw when the big lefty hit us,' quipped Rintoul’s navigator Julie Hodder, 'and they were able to react.'

Rintoul was not the only one caught out. Without having proof, it is thought that the welcome party for all competitors, held last evening, may have caused some sloppy crew work today, which started with some prawn trawling on CMist, the Beneteau 44.7 skippered by Troy Dillon.

However, CMist’s oops was just the first in a litany of errors throughout the race. Further down the course, She’s the One, sailing in Division two was the one to hit a sandbank! Michael Kirby and his crew were very red-faced – they represent the Port Stephens Yacht Club, so should have known where that nasty sandbank was.

While Kirby and co. got the NSX-38 off pretty quickly, they had to watch as their nearest rivals, Moet and Negotiator, both Northshore 38’s from Wollongong, sailed through them and left them behind.

The second boat to hit a bank and stay there was the Patrice Six crew from Sydney. This time it was Tony Kirby and his crew from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia – in a day of Kirby incidents. Starting out in party mode, wearing colourful hats and obviously enjoying themselves, the unthinkable happened.

Kirby, a well-regarded ocean racer, and his crew, were able to keep the smiles on their faces and should be rewarded for taking it all in good sport, even though their race win chances were out the window after a fine win in Division one yesterday; today it was 13th place – from rooster to feather duster in one fell swoop.

There were many others who came unstuck with poor spinnaker work and slow crew work in general, but hey, all are here to have a good time and are not playing for sheep stations, so all is well!

The top three overall in Division one today were, Holy Cow, owned by John and Kim Clinton, who did not let last night’s party upset them. The Wolverines front man was happy to go from 11th place yesterday to a win.

'We practice to be able to party like that,' Clinton said this afternoon. 'I expect my crew to hang in and to do as much damage as possible to our competitors and lead them down the wrong track. I’m disappointed in Tony Kirby – I thought he was as good as us at partying, but it appears he didn’t read his chart plotter – everyone else had it on their chart!'

On a more serious note, Clinton, whose trademark is his long crinkly beard which is kept in peak condition, said it was tricky sailing, with winds varying from 7-20 knots with big wind shifts thrown in for good measure.

'It’s made more difficult in that we’ve bought a gennaker for the boat and we’re still working out how to use it – hopefully that will be sorted by August. We’ve got a problem when the wind gets light too; under 12 knots and we become a bit of a fat old cow,' Clinton laughed.

Alyn Oveneden’s Let’s Go from Port Stephens was second overall, with Philippe Mengual’s Paca third. Both Paca and Holy Cow did the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Sydney proud.

Overall, with two races put to bed, Rob Curtis’ Secret Men’s Business from the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club at Pittwater leads by one point from Let’s Go, with Paca a further four points behind with only one race remaining, which will be sailed from 12.30pm onwards tomorrow.

In Division two, Philip Martin’s Getaway from South Lake Macquarie Yacht Club did the locals proud with a close win on the 13 nautical mile course over Wollongong Yacht Club entry, Pub Talk, Rod Harper’s Farr 1106.

Harper was keen to win today’s well named ‘Pub to Pub’ race, but second was nearly as good. He shared second place with Brendan Hunt’s Eugenie, a Beneteau First 35 from Sydney helmed by former gun youth sailor Micah Lane at the helm.

Overall, Bradley Sewell’s Sydney 32 Mainstay from South Lake Macquarie Amateur Sailing Club leads by a narrow margin from Eugenie and Keith Master’s Moet from RMYC at Pittwater.


For further information, please visit: www.sailportstephens.com.au