Audi Winter Series race 2 to Forty

by Lisa Ratcliff on 16 May 2011 Audi Winter Series second race and there were many vacant spots on Sydney Harbour as the temperatures began to rise and the morning breeze fizzled out.

Similar to last week’s season opener, the Race Committee applied Sailing Instruction 17.2 when the race was shortened and results were scored on corrected time. The Race Committee believe using this rule for shortened courses will make results fairer and the sailing office has received very positive feedback from the first two races.

Steve Barlow has been an Etchells sailor for the past 15 years. Six months ago he up-scaled, buying a Farr 40 class boat with a plan to compete locally in one design events. Today, with the help of Olympian and world champion sailor Neville Whittey in his ear, Barlow scored the division A2 win for the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron with Forty.

'It was definitely light and patchy but still a glorious autumn day. We had to keep looking for the pressure lanes. Having Nev on board as our tactician was the key to our win, he’s very good at finding breeze,' admitted Barlow this evening.

Forty not only took out the handicap win, it was slippery through the water in the light stuff and beat much bigger boats around the Harbour track.

The division G winner was James Francis’ NT30 New Territories, which is brand new to the country and the test prototype for James’ own unique design. Francis, a former Youth Sailing Academy sailor, studied naval architecture with a Chinese student back in 2004 when the pair began discussing their own design based on a modern version of a Cavalier 28. Four years later they went to the drawing board and last year the boat was built in China at his colleague’s boatyard.

'We are very much in the testing phase, just figuring out how to design a racer-cruiser for Mr Average,' said Francis. While he was hoping to stay under the radar given its early days, the 25 year-old’s division G win today will have caught the attention of his contemporaries.

James is contesting the Audi Winter Series with a young crew and in his family’s case, the tables have definitely turned with his dad invited along as the mainsheet hand. 'He happily accepts tips from the younger ones on the boat,' assures James. And so he might with a crew of seasoned 18 foot and 29er hands including the well-known Chapman family of brothers Andrew and Will and sister Ali.

For now Francis is sticking with his constructions company job while he dabbles with his design on the side, tweaking and modifying until he and his co-designer feel they have a product ready to market. Watch this space.

Race officer Robyn Morton reported an 80 degree wind shift that caught a few out on the start line. Apart from that flurry of activity there was little to report with the breeze peaking at just eight knots before fading to two to three knots from the south-west.

A lack of wind resulted in a lack of steerage at the Bradley’s Head mark with a bunch-up generating some 'excited conversation' amongst the strong fleet of 140 according to Morton.

All divisions sailed a shortened Course A but it was still a very late finish for the race committee with the only remaining boat calling it quits just 15 minutes before time ran out having coasted around for more than an hour in sight of the finish boat.

The lucky recipient of the keys to an Audi A5 Sportback 3.0 TDI quattro for the week was Peter Fallon, the winner of Division E with his Cape 31 Max.

Divisional winners included;

Division A1 – You’re Hired (Geoff Morgan), Division A2 – Forty (Steve Barlow), Division B – Papillon (Phil Malony), Division C – Argo Blue (George Snow), Division D – Sommerbreeze (Hans Sommer), Division E – Max (Peter Fallon), Division F – Windflyt (Doug Sturrock), Division G – New Territories (James Francis), Division H – Sea Rug Hoo Ha (Peter and Sally Howes), Division J – Inkonkoni (Arthur Lane), Division K – MRX (J Short M Bastick), Sydney 28 – Wild One (Larki Missiris).

Audi Winter Series: Website