Milson Memorial Cup - Line honours winner Quest

by Peter Campbell on 11 Feb 2012 Milson Memorial Cup was hosted by the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron today, 11th February 2012.

Matt Wilkinson’s Masrm 920 out of Sight may have been just that to the front runners in today’s short ocean race off Sydney Heads, but she certainly was not out of mind when it came to calculating corrected time results.

Out of Sight finished 22nd in the fleet 27 boats that contested the Milson Cup, but she headed up a list of smaller boats that came home in a building southerly breeze to fill the first five places under the PHS scoring used to determine the winner of the prestigious trophy.

Only two minutes separated the first five boats on corrected time with Out of Sight taking first place and the Milson Cup by 27 seconds from Damian Barker’s Alpha Carinae, with 43 seconds to third placegetter Outlandish (Sean Barrett).

Fourth place went to the veteran Stormy Petrel (Kevin O’Shea) which was last boat to finish, and fifth to Lisdillon (Desmond Fagan).

With light winds at the start and forecast for the afternoon, Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron race officer David Reid set the fleet a short one nautical mile offshore leg involving two windwind/returns. Added to the passages out to sea and back to the Harbour start/finish, this resulted in a total of 15 nautical miles – and a fast race with the south to south-easterly breeze strengthening to 12-16 knots.

Line honours winner Quest, Bob Steel’s Transpac 52, rocketed around the course in one hour 28 minutes and 57 seconds to comfortable beat home Ed Psaltis’ Ker 40 AFR Midnight Rambler and Michael Cranitch’s Enigma.

Quest placed 16th overall in the PHS scoring for the Milson Cup. but won the IRC division comfortably from AFR Midnight Rambler, Out of Sight and the J111, Jake (Ray Entwistle).

The Milson Memorial Cup was also heat nine of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Grant Thornton Short Ocean Point Score with IRC Division 1 going to Quest from AFR Midnight Rambler and Jake.

Out of Sight won IRC Division 2 from King Billy (Philip Bennett) and Zephyr Hamilton Elevators (Alex Brandon).

The PHS Division 1 of the SOPS saw Desmond Fagan’s Lisdillon score a 36 seconds corrected time win from Enigma, with Crosshaven (Justin Pelly) third.

PHS Division 2 saw another first place for Out of Sight, with Alpha Carinae second and Outlandish third.

Quest’s win lifts her to first place in IRC Division 1 of the Grant Thornton SOPS. With three races to sail the TP52 and past Rolex Sydney Hobart Race winner is on a net 7 points after two discards. AFR Midnight Rambler is on 11.3 points with Jake on 14 points.

Quest also heads PHS Division 1 after today’s race in which she placed eighth on corrected time on a net 16 points. Previous pointscore leader, AFR Midnight Rambler, has discarded her eighth place today, but dropped to second in standings on 20.5 points.

Jake has moved up to third overall following her third place today, on 25 points, just ahead of Occasional Coarse Language (Warwick Sherman) on 27 points and Minerva (Tim Cox) on 27.6 points.

Out of Sight’s excellent performance in the Milson Cup has strengthened the Masrm 920’s position in IRC Division 2. She is on eight points, ahead of Zephyr on 11 points and King Billy on 14 points.

In the PHS Division 2 pointscore, only two points separate Outlandish on 10 points and Out of Sight on 12 points, followed by Zephyr Hamilton Elevators on 15 points and King Billy on 17 points.