Summer Pennant racing starts on the Derwent in a brisk breeze

by Peter Campbell on 9 Oct 2010 Four different yachts shared top honours in Division 1 of Bellerive Yacht Club’s opening Pennant races on the River Derwent today as they contested two windward/leeward in a brisk 20 knot sou’sou’westerly breeze.

The Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania boat, 2Unlimited, Greg Prescott’s fast Melges 32, took line and AMS handicap honours in race one, winning from the Derwent Sailing Club’s Archie, skippered by Scott Brain, and Harold Clark’s Invincible from Bellerive Yacht Club.

However, 2Unlimited had a mediocre second race, with the Sydney 38 Ciao Baby II (Stephen Chau) taking line honours and first place on corrected time going to Invincible, from Archie and Host Plus Executive (Jeff Cordell).

Under PHS handicaps, Host Plus Executive won race one from Invincible and Ciao Baby II while the fourth winner in Division One today was Archie, taking out race two under PHS handicaps from Taspaints (Ian Stewart) and Ciao Baby II.

The Farr 40s sailed three very close and, at times, spectacular races, with Bellerive’s Hughie Lewis winning the first two in his re-named Tilford Auto Group. Race one saw Lewis get the gun by just two seconds from across the river rival Lloyd Clark, steering Voodoo Chile from the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania.

Wind gusts of 25 knots on the downwind legs of race two saw some spectacular broaches, with Tilford Auto Group winning again, this time by 26 seconds from Voodoo Chile, which went on to win race three from Wired (Stephen Boyes) and Tilford Auto Group.

The 9m division also sailed two windward/leeward races with Stewart Geeves’ Footloose taking the line/handicap double in both races. In race one, Footloose won from Just in Time (Mick Sheehan) and Trouble (Dave Willans) while in race two, the minor placings were reversed.

Division 2 attracted the biggest fleet, with Colin Denny’s Blue Chip leading the fleet around the course, but well beaten on corrected time by Forever Young (Rob Nader). Second place went to John Hunn and his veteran crew of Atilla, third to Serica (Charles Peacock).

Odyssey (Steve Logan) also won the double in Division 3, winning on handicap from Octapussy (Danny Cunningham) and Knuza (Adrian Peterson).

In the Half Ton division, Half Hearted (Chad Grafton) got the gun but first place went to Moshula (Max Air) with Half Hearted second and Mako(Jim Bedford) third.