Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race - PHS winner surfs in

by Lisa Ratcliff, CYCA Event Media on 3 Aug 2010
Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race.

Nick Athineos and Rick Christian’s modified Steinmann 66, The Stick, formerly a two-time round the world Open 60, has surfed into first place in the PHS division of the Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race.

'The boat loved the conditions,' said Christian, the skipper for the 384 nautical mile coastal sprint north from Sydney Harbour.

'Saturday night we were a little ambitious, we blew out one kite and copped a few waves over the bow up to the mast.

'We had the entire crew at the stern to get the weight aft and we hit a top speed of 25.5 knots, which was pretty exciting on board for those relatively new to big boat racing.

'Everyone’s really pleased with the result, we had a core crew on board and the rest with varying levels of experience and everyone combined well,' the winning skipper added.

Geoff and Pip Lavis’ Inglis/Murray 50, UBS Wild Thing, finished PHS division 1 runner up second year on the trot ahead of Cruising Yacht Club of Australia club mate Rod Skellet and his Pogo 40 Krakatoa II in third.

PHS division 2 winner was Ian Sanford and Barrie King’s Northshore 38 Tartan flying the Greenwich Flying Squadron burgee.

The crew, many of them Parramatta River skiff sailors, have had four attempts at the silverware, this time coming away with the spoils.

'It was a pretty tame race, we knew it was going to be different to any other Gold Coast Race weather-wise – the biggest difference was we won,' laughed Sanford this morning at breakfast.

So will they be back next year to defend their title? 'I’ll have to check with my wife first' Sanford joked.

He has promised that at today’s trophy presentation five of Tartan’s six crewmembers will be wearing kilts in the appropriate Clan Tartan.

Second in PHS division 2 was Kerry Burke and Robert Carr’s Northshore 370 Mortgage Choice Rumba (MHYC) and third was Bruce Dover’s Warwick 44 EZ Street (SASC).

Sixty nine boats out of the original 75 that set off at 1pm on Saturday have now recorded a finish time and some have already headed back out of the Gold Coast Broadwater to prepare for their next challenge.

For the last boat in the fleet, things are definitely looking up on yesterday when the ETA for the Newcastle based Swanson 36 Mister Christian, which is being skippered north by Tony Purkiss to mark his 20th Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race and the event’s 25th, was four days away.

Currently they have 32 miles to sail averaging 7 knots. At this rate they may even arrive in time for the official trophy presentation which is scheduled for 3.30pm this afternoon at the finish club, Southport Yacht Club.

Winning owners and their crews and all Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race competitors are invited to attend the prizegiving that will be held this afternoon at 3.30pm at Southport Yacht Club to celebrate the close of the silver jubilee of the annual coastal classic, and applaud the last boat into the marina.

Audi Australia together with ONE HD, Australia’s only dedicated free-to-air digital sports channel, will show highlights from the Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race on Monday 23 August at 8.30pm on ONE HD, as part of the four episode wrap of the Audi IRC Australian Championship.

To view the full race results log on to http://goldcoast.cyca.com.au