Derwent Sailing Squadron Autumn Short-handed Series final
by Peter Campbell on 20 May 2012
Racing today on the Derwent in the final event of the autumn 2012 DSS autumn short-handed series Rob Cruse
Derwent Sailing Squadron’s Autumn Short-handed Series final race was held on Hobart’s River Derwent on Sunday 20th May. A countback was needed to decide the overall winner in one division while no more than two points separated the top boats in two other divisions.
The final race in the five-Sunday series was sailed in a fresh (17 knots, gusting to 23 knots) and cool (11 degrees that felt like seven degrees) breeze on the Derwent that fully tested the two crew sailing each boat.
The countback was needed to decide Division 4 after Serenity (Graham Hall) snatched a 31 second win today from Quebrada (Tim Maddock) to tie the series with 7 points each. However, Quebrada’s two first places earlier in the series gave it the overall win from Serenity, with Portobello (Ian Johnston) just one point back in third place.
The former ocean racing yacht Mem (Paul Boutchard) won Division 2 by one point from Just Jones (Peter Giblin), the two boats today placing second and third on corrected time behind race winner Silver Mist (Andrew Sutherland). Third place in the series went to Wildfire (John Ettershank).
The J24s, Street Car (Peter Bingham) and Another Toy (Greg Rowlings) finished first and second overall in Division, only two points apart, although neither was placed today. A close third overall was Vistula (Greg Biskup)
Today’s race winner was Okka (McKay & Stubbs).
In Division 1, Mike Rowley’s Planet X notched up its third consecutive race win to take out the series by a comfortable three points from Fred Barrett’s Fang to the Max, third overall going to l’Etoile (John Dawson).
Division 3, contested by SB3s, saw close racing today with Toll Shipping (Nick Rogers) winning from Brain Fade (Scott Brain) and Balios (Peter Langford) with less than a minute between them at the finish. The win, the third of the series gave overall victory to Toll Shipping with a six point margin from Balios, third place going to the consistent Hypertronics (Stephen Catchpool).
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