DSS pennant race one to Wedge Island

by Peter Campbell on 24 Oct 2010 Wedge Island Race- Sydney Hobart racing yacht Valheru ran aground, hard and fast, on Wedge Island in Storm Bay yesterday, not only ending her racing for the day but disrupting one-design competition back on the River Derwent.

Valheru, skippered by Tony Lyall, was competing in the Derwent Sailing Squadron 48 nautical mile race from Hobart to Wedge Island, near Nubeena on the Tasman Peninsula and return.

'She apparently hit a reef that extends out the back of the island,' DSS sailing manager Tony Nicholas said.

Unable to extricate the yacht, the crew radioed for assistance, with DSS race officials initially sending the Alf Gough patrol vessel, and then the larger motor vessel Masterpiece, to assist. As Masterpiece had been the committee boat for the one-design classes, racing had to be abandoned for the Farr 40 and International Dragon classes after just one race.

'The Alf Gough managed to haul Valheru off the reef without the help of Masterpiece and the yacht headed back to Hobart under its own power,' Nicholas added.

The rest of the Division 1 fleet in the Wedge Island race completed the course without incident, line honours going to Gary Smith and Geoff White’s Bakewell-White 45 The Fork in the Road with an elapsed time of 5 hours 57 minutes and 48 seconds in the moderate to fresh winds that swung from north-west to south-west during the day.

On corrected time, the PHS division went to Roger Jackman’s Doctor Who from The Fork in the Road and Greg Prescott’s Melges 32 2Unlimited which took out AMS honours from Don Calvert’s Intrigue and Sally Rattle’s Archie.

Archie placed first in the small IRC division, beating Dump Truck (Edward Fader and Justin Wells) with Intrigue taking third money.

While Division 1 boats raced to Wedge Island, other cruiser/racer divisions sailed a 20 nautical mile course down the western shore the Derwent to Blackmans Bay and return, with the westerly wind producing fast, close racing.

The J35 Mem, skippered by Paul Boutchard took out the line/handicap double in Division 2, winning on corrected time from Wings Three (Peter Haros) and John Hunn’s Atilla. The 30-footer Kaiulani (Mal Cooper) also led the Division 3 fleet around the course and won on handicap from Trick Cyclist (Graeme Harrington) and Epoxy Warrior (Ross Mannering).

In the 9m division only seven minutes separated the seven starters, with the syndicate owned Wildfire getting the gun but relegated to second place on corrected time by the Peterson 30 Spare Time (Shane Powell), third placing to Stewart Geeves’ Footloose.

In the one race for the Farr 40s, Voodoo Chile (Andrew Hunn) won by 13 seconds from War Games (Wayne Banks-Smith) and Hughie Lewis’ Tilford Auto Group. In the Dragon class, Nick Rogers steered Karabos IX to a comfortable win from Xanthos (Mike Wilkinson) and Leander (David Graney).