Beneteau Lagoon Regatta a sparkling success

by Kevin Green on 30 Nov 2011 A sparkling Sydney Harbour hosted the annual Beneteau Lagoon Regatta on Friday 18 November. Host and Vicsail proprietors Brendan Hunt along with wife Jo ensured the day long schedule went to plan at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.

Kicking-off with a French themed breakfast of filled croissants washed down with Moet supplied by D’Albora Marina, crews enjoyed the soothing sounds of the Northern Strings Quartet ensemble. The dockside pre- Beneteau sparkles on Sydney Harbour race atmosphere was livened up by the Seagulls, a comedy due of man-sized birds. The gulls pecked their way through the 255 sailors, who politely asked them not to do any toilet indiscretions on their race boats.

Sponsor and Commodore for the day was the legendary Mr Syd Fischer OBE who took time out from preparing for his 43rd Hobart and the running of his newly acquired Sydney City Marine boatyard to open the regatta. 'As a life long yacht owner and sailor I feel I know what fellow boat owners want in a yard,' said Fischer during his opening address to the 44 skippers and crew. The yard will be used for commissioning new Beneteaus and Lagoons.
Renowned for its strong sponsorship support which meant plenty of quality door prizes the 20th Beneteau Regatta again lived up to expectations. Lucky winners included a happy 40.7 skipper Frank Hetherington who was recipient of a Raymarine handheld VHF.

With Race officer Roger Wragby bringing proceedings to order and dishing out stern words to potential protestors the five divisions headed out for their two race series.

Nevertheless, competition was tough at the sharp end of the four boat IRC fleet with the tightly knit crew of Paul Clitheroe’s First 45 ‘Balance’ mixing it up closely in the 14knot NE breeze with eventual winner, First 40 ‘Just a Dash’ skippered by Phil Dash, who finished just ahead of Howard Piggot’s First 40 ‘Flying Cloud’. Afterwards a jubilant Dash said his four month old First 40 performed really well. 'We put our win down to excellent line starts (from the pin end) and on the course we picked the shifts really well today,' explained Dash.

The 44 boat event showcased plenty of the latest Beneteaus including the new sleek Sense 50, Silver Minx, a brace of the flagship Beneteau 57s and a posse of the nimble Juan Kouyoumdjian designed First 30s that buzzed through the fleet, heeled-over with twin rudders showing. Elsewhere a couple of Lagoon catamarans made their stately progress on a reaching course.

The majority of the fleet were in the non-spinnaker division comprising of 30 boats, so the start line – off the CYCA club at Rushcutters Bay – saw plenty of action as the breeze filled in to propel the yachts towards the eastern suburbs for the windward mark off Nielson Park. Dodging the incoming tide, boats split off to either shore on the beat before rounding the mark and poling out their genoas for a glorious sundrenched run towards the Harbour Bridge where Fort Denison and its diners waved to the passing fleet as they rounded for the beat back up and the finish.

Antics in among the fleet included plenty of friendly jibes and gybes as well as the odd bovine bellow. The sound of a cow horn alerted the boats to the presence of the colourful Oceanis 50 ‘Holy Cow’ that expressed her displeasure at being overtaken by the diminutive First 305 ‘Elusive Spirit’. Sailed all the way from Gosford Sailing Club by Bob Swan ‘Elusive Spirit’ went on for a well earned second place in Division B just behind winners ‘Still Dangerous’, Ivor Burgess’s Oceanis 423, enjoying their first Beneteau regatta win in seven attempts. A jovial Burgess said his largely septuagenarian male crew included a Scotsman from the Orkney Islands and former Olympian Ian Winter. 'We live for our sailing and when we get away together our wives are more than happy about that as well,' laughed Burgess.

Onshore, the hot sunny day ensured an even busier CYCA bar than usual as yet more prizes were given out before the club’s dining room thronged with sailors enjoying the salmon and steak buffet and awaiting the big prize draw – an $8000 Mauritius holiday that went to a riotously happy Nick Robertson.

Vicsail’s chosen charity this year was the YWCA, an organisation that helps disadvantaged youth, and thanks to raffles and prizes, received a substantial sum from the Beneteau Lagoon Regatta day.

With formalities over the band played on thanks to John Clinton from ‘Holy Cow’ saving enough energy to command the Wolverines on stage and belt out the tune ‘what a bloody great day to go sailing’. We couldn’t agree more.

Results: http://www.vicsailsydney.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Series-Results.pdf
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