Crown Series Bellerive Regatta - Whistler skipper races a catamaran

by Peter Campbell on 28 Feb 2011 Crown Series Bellerive Regatta skipper David Rees, of the winning offshore racing yacht Whistler, swapped his keelboat for a Paper Tiger catamaran with success over the weekend.

Rees sailed the Paper Tiger Pan Gallaltic into second place to the experienced catamaran sailor Mick Boyle, sailing Re-entry, with only two points to third placegetter Bongo Fury (Oliver Bailey).

Rees, who won the Australian Three Peaks Race last Easter with Whistler and then finished third in the British Three Peaks, is planning to charter a catamaran for this Easter’s local Three Peaks Race.

The versatile yachtsman, who skippered Whistler into second place in the AMS division of the recent Bruny Island Race, sailed a consistent seven series in conditions from Saturday’s light winds to today’s 12-15 knot east-south-easterly, with two seconds and five thirds.

'We are looking at chartering a catamaran for this Easter’s Three Peaks….while we took line honors last year with Whistler, we think we need a faster multihull to defend our title,' Rees said at the end of the regatta.

'Tim Jones (a Whistler crewman) and I are both sailing catamarans to get a feel for them although, of course, the boat we have for the Three Peaks will be much larger than a Paper Tiger.'

Another sailor to change classes with success was 13-year-old Sabot sailor Jock Calvert who moved up to a Laser 4.7 to win the Division six mixed class which comprises Laser 4.7 and Laser Radials.

Calvert, sailing Rapid Fire, won by just two points from fellow RYCT Dinghy Group sailor Alekandrys Price who sailed exceptionally well with Hardbeat, scoring three wins and a second in the final four heats sailed today. Third place went to Anna Vaughan sailing Topaz, all three place getters sailing Laser 4.7s.

Other mixed class division winners at the Regatta were the NS14 Gumblossom (Dennis) Leitch in Division seven, Australian Lightweight champion One Hump or Two (Drew Latham) in Division eight, the B14 Strait4devils (Adrian Beswick) in Division nine and the Formula sailboard Techno Sailboard (Stewart Gordon) in Division 10.

Biggest one-design dinghy class was the Sabots with another Dinghy Group sailor, Dylan Van Drunen, sailing Red Herring to victory with a winning series of two wins and five seconds. Runner-up was Edmund Hargreaves sailing Starter Kit who had two heat wins, as did third place getter Jacqui Walker in Another White Boat.

Sandy Bay Sailing Club’s Jonny Cooper won a close-fought regatta in the International Cadet class, notching up four wins, two seconds and a third in Wild Thing and beating club-mate Oliver Burnell, sailing Winning Edge, by two points. Sam Tiedemann finished third overall.

In the Sabre class, a senior single-handed dinghy, Jeremy Fish finished the regatta with three straight wins and a second to finish the seven heat series with a clear win from Tanicity (Matthew Pearce) and Essence (Matthew Westland).

Sabot development sailor Joshua and Daniel Ragg, won the last two races in Division seven mixed class, beating Sabot two-up Sam King and Fergus Ayton, also from the Sabot Development group, third place going to the Optimist sailor Hugo Messmer, sailing Downunder.

Two times Australian Mirror dinghy champion Jessie Atherton won all seven races in Division three mixed class, beating Tony Pearce in his Heron, This is Life, third place going to Foxy Lady 3 (Robbie Hunt).

Crown Series Bellerive Regatta