Sydney 38 Victorian Titles – a stern view

by Deb Parker - 38 Degrees South on 26 Apr 2011 Quantum Sails Sydney 38 Victorian Titles.

The weekend of the 16th & 17th of April provided some great close racing and was not short on incidents, allowing a number of boats the opportunity to practice & perfect 360° and 720° turns.

Day one saw a few mistimed manoeuvres causing some collisions, one of which resulted in damage to Challenge’s wind gear and Cinquante’s spreaders resulting in Cinquante not racing on Day 2.

The starts were very civilised with most boats well spread out on each start and no start-line incidents.

The first race was underway on time and with great conditions – perfect sailing in around 15 knots, occasional sunshine and flat water.

It resulted in a close finish between Challenge, Chutzpah38, Clockwork with a photo finish between Sierra Chainsaw and 38 Degrees South - Sierra Chainsaw just pipping 38 Degrees South by half a metre.

Unfortunately, Adrenalin had a halyard problem which caused them to miss the first two races but they did well to jury-rig a new main halyard and get out for races 3 and 4. Their effort was rewarded with a sound third in race 3 but in race 4 it was Audacious’s turn and they came through in second place, behind Challenge.

On Day 2, the weather was perfect ... for just about anything except sailing! After two hours of waiting for the breeze to fill in, race 5 finally got under way in five to eight knots of SE wind. There was a bit if a current running, due to the recent rainfall, so this provided a bit more of a challenge for the naviguessers.

Clockwork got a bit close and personal with a mark between races which required the crew to jump in and unravel the anchor line from their keel. Fortunately, the race management team was also on hand to help retrieve the mark for the next race.

Sierra Chainsaw had a blinder of a fifth race winning by 100 m or more from Challenge and Chutzpah38, but could not repeat it in the last race when the first 7 boats in the series coincidentally finished in their series placing order – Chutzpah38, Challenge, Sierra and Clockwork.

Congratulations to Bruce Taylor and the Chutzpah38 team for winning both the Open and Corinthian series.

Results:
1st Chutzpah38 Bruce Taylor 1st Corinthian series
2nd Challenge Lou Abrahams
3rd Sierra Chainsaw Andrew Mollison 2nd Corinthian series
4th Clockwork G Mather / F Macdermott
5th Audacious Greg Clinnick 3rd Corinthian series
6th Adrenalin Ian Beer/ Andrew Mol
7th 38 Degrees South John Chatham
8th Cinquante Ian Murray
9th Mille Sabords Stephane Howarth