Please select your home edition
Edition
Barton Marine 2019 728x90

Pipe Opener starts season in southern Tamania

by Peter Campbell on 15 Sep 2011
Dump Truck at start of Launceston to Hobart - Pipe Opener Night Race 2011 Rob Cruse
Pipe Opener Night Race is being held Friday, 16 September 2011. Ocean racing yachts Dump Truck and Whistler will begin their 2011 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race campaigns this Friday evening when they contest the 43rd edition of the race down the River Derwent and D’Entrecasteaux Channel to Arch Rock or Gordon.

The Pipe Opener, a test of night sailing skills and navigation, with strict safety rules, will start from Castray Esplanade at 7pm, with the first boat likely to finish the 25 nautical mile course about midnight.

This traditional event will set the pattern for another magnificent summer season of yacht racing in southern Tasmania, with the night race being followed by the Cock of the Huon at Shipwrights Point on the Huon River on Saturday afternoon. Hobart entrants will race back from Port Huon to Gordon race on Sunday.

A fleet of near forty yachts has entered for the weekend of racing, including yachts from the major Hobart clubs and also the Huon Yacht Club.

The Friday night race will open the first Sydney Hobart Yacht Race campaign for Tow Truck since Edward Fader and Justin Wells bought Ker 11.7 following the 2009 Sydney Hobart when, then named Tow Truck, it scored its second successive division win in the ocean classic.

Since then Fader and Wells and their crew have completed two winter and a summer pennant series, along with several long ocean races in Tasmanian waters, preparing the boat and her new owners and crew for another tilt by the boat at the Sydney Hobart.

Whistler, a Dovell 38 skippered by David Rees, has been a previous Sydney Hobart contender and has had a string of offshore successes, including winning the Launceston to Hobart and the Three Peaks Race. Three of the crew plus two distance runners earlier this year finished third overall in the British Three Peaks Race, sailing a chartered yacht.


Other prominent yachts entered for the Pipe Opener and Cock of the Huon Series include Stewart Geeves’ Footloose which won the Cock of the Huon in 2009 and the Launceston to Hobart Race in 2010, Peter Haros’ Wings III, which finished third in division in the L2R last year, and David Taylor’s Pisces, winner of the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania’s recent Winter Series.


Huon Yacht Club entries include Dave O’Neill’s Redback, Scott Sharp’s Cleopatra, and It Happens, owned by Ian Parsons and to be helmed by Nick Souter, the co-helmsman with Robert Pennicott in their epic Follow the Yellow Boat Road circumnavigation of Australia in an inflatable dinghy which ended this month.

The Pipe Opener, sponsored by Sargisons Jewellers and Kermandie Hotel, is a unique event as the only series open to all types of keel boats, including trailable yachts and multihulls, where the first and major races starts and finishes at night.

The Cock of the Huon has a different format this year. Instead of a pursuit race, as it has been in the past, Huon Yacht Club will conduct fleet starts for three divisions from historic Shipwrights Point.

Kermandie Hotel, owned by prominent Sydney based yachtsman Sean Langman, will host a presentation buffer dinner on Saturday evening, the highlight of which will be honouring the 2011 Cock of the Huon.

From next month onwards Hobart yachtsman will be a full calendar of exciting round-the-buoys harbour racing, state and national championships, day long distance races, demanding long ocean races, historic regattas and, of course, the hugely popular and more social club twilight racing. It won’t end until late autumn next year.

Sea Sure 2025sMRT AIS Man Overboard Beacons AUS / NZRS Sailing 2021 - FOOTER

Related Articles

Class40 top guns enter Rolex Fastnet Race
One of the most successful genre of offshore race boat ever Now 20+ years old, the Class40 has proved itself one of the most successful genre of offshore race boat ever.
Posted today at 6:45 am
Finn World Masters in Medemblik Day 2
Pieter-Jan Postma leads after the second day of racing in The Netherlands Pieter-Jan Postma, from The Netherlands, is leading the fleet of 307 Finns from 27 countries after everyone sailed two more races at the 2025 Finn World Masters in Medemblik. France's Laurent Hay is second with Germany's Fabian Lemmel in third.
Posted on 17 Jun
World Sailing launches the World Sailing Academy
A new online learning platform for the global sailing community World Sailing officially launched the World Sailing Academy, an innovative new online learning platform designed to provide comprehensive educational resources and training to sailors, coaches, officials, administrators, and the global sailing community.
Posted on 17 Jun
Sailing and the summer solstice
Celebrating sailing and the longest day of the year If you love long evenings and early mornings, this is one of the best times of the whole year, as the summer solstice (Friday, June 20) and the entire rich expanse of summer are about to burst into bloom.
Posted on 17 Jun
New Caledonia Groupama Race update
Rushour crew safely back in Noumea after capsize The boat was located and it was identified as capsized. All crew members were accounted for. Crew were transferred in the larger aircraft at Koumac and arrived back at Noumea at about 4pm local time.
Posted on 17 Jun
Video Review: The Amazing Cure 55
Composite Construction meets Cruising Convenience It was two years ago at the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show that I talked to Dave Biggar about his ideas and plans for the Cure 55. At the 2025 show I got to step on board the yacht and see how his ideas became reality.
Posted on 17 Jun
ASBA launches Touring Trophy Series
The new leadership team brings experience, enthusiasm, and strong focus on inclusivity and planning The Australian Sports Boat Association (ASBA) has announced a dynamic new initiative to enhance participation and connectivity within the sports boat community - the ASBA Touring Trophy series.
Posted on 16 Jun
Finn World Masters in Medemblik Day 1
Eight races over two course areas in four groups with four different winners Racing at the 2025 Finn World Masters began in Medemblik, The Netherlands, on Monday with eight races over two course areas in four groups.
Posted on 16 Jun
The Ocean Race will return to Itajaí, Brazil
During the 2027 and 2031 around the world races The Ocean Race confirms Itajaí, in Santa Catarina state, in Brazil will once again host the world's most iconic around-the-world yacht race in April, 2027 and again in 2031, in a two-edition hosting partnership.
Posted on 16 Jun
IRC UK National Championships overall
Adam Gosling's JPK 1080 Yes! crowned overall champion The final day of the 2025 IRC National Championships, part of the Royal Thames Yacht Club's 250th Anniversary Regatta, began on schedule, with a steady south-westerly breeze bringing yet another twist to the range of conditions experienced.
Posted on 16 Jun