Audi Winter Series - Glorious conditions for Race 9

by Jennifer Crooks on 1 Jul 2012 Audi Winter Series 2012, organised by The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, is being held on Sydney Harbour. Race nine got underway today, Sunday 1st July. It was a glorious winter’s day, full of sunshine and lots of breeze for the 129 competitors. Today was the second last race in the series and with only a few points separating podium places, winning meant everything.

For the first time this series, Race Officer Robyn Morton was dealt sunshine and mostly westerly breezes. 'It’s been a very pleasant day – the sun is shining and we’ve got a nice breeze,' Morton said.

'We had some excitement during the start sequence: approximately 25 minutes into the start, there was a big 25 knot gust that sorted a few people out,' she added. The breeze also flicked around the compass throughout the afternoon with crews reporting southerly breezes at the top mark (Junction Bell), which changed to west south west and then to west north west.

'After the 25 knot gust, the breeze held at 20-25 knots for about three minutes, then settled down to 10-15 knots and dropped to 8-9 knots at 1.45pm as the first of boats were approaching the finish line,' Morton added.

For Terry Rhodes and his tight knit crew aboard Wild Blue Yonder, it was their second consecutive win in as many weeks, handing Rhodes a four point lead in the Division G pointscore.

'No-one is more surprised than we are,' Rhodes said this afternoon. His crew were in good spirits and the cheer was deafening when informed of their four point lead over season rival Velocity (Brian Carrick).

Guy Holthouse, the mainsheet ‘powerhouse’ on Wild Blue Yonder, takes up the story. 'We had a lot of fun – we’re at the business end of the competition and were extremely keen to maintain our slim advantage with only two races remaining.

'On reflection, the decision to fly a smaller kite on the leg from Garden Island to Bradleys Head and managing to carry it through to Lady Bay, was advantageous for us,' Holthouse said.

Both Holthouse and Rhodes noted that their linch pin was Rachael, who was in charge of the headsail. 'She’s the best,' Holthouse said.

Velocity holds onto second place in the Division G pointscore, after finishing third today with Marigot Bay (Merryl Semple) and Selkie (Antico, Booth and Lewis), tied for third.

'Amazing,' was how Ray Stone (Razors Edge) described his win in Division D today.

'It was just one of those days where everything we did was right. It’s never happened before and it’ll probably never happen again,' Stone said jokingly.

'It was a difficult day – you couldn’t chase the wind because if you did, when you got to there the breeze had gone. You had to pick a side (of the course) and stay with it.

'The breeze was very south as we reached Bradleys Head and we made the decision not to hoist the big spinnaker and that paid dividends for us.

'In the last leg, as we put the spinnaker up, I was doubtful that we’d make the mark (without having to change sails), but the breeze came through,' Stone added.

Steve Hatch’s M was second to Razors Edge, yet holds onto a two point lead in the Division D pointscore. Amante (Dennis Cooper) and Razors Edge both sit on 21 points, but based on a countback, Amante has her bow just in front.

In Division A2, it was NSC Mahligai’s (Murray Owen and Jenny Kings) day. 'It was a very pleasant sail – everything worked,' Owen said this afternoon.

'We started at the pin end of the line and were working our way up the course when the breeze went south, meaning we had a big reach into the mark.

'At the Junction Bell mark I was in two minds as to what sail to put up. I decided on our big spinnaker and it worked. All in all a good day on the Harbour,' Owen added.

Occasional Coarse Language 2 (Warwick Sherman) finished second to NSC Mahligai, yet holds onto a one point lead in the Division A2 pointscore.

In the Sydney 38 One Design Division, Thirlmere (Sally Warneford and Larry Jamieson) came away with the win to lead the overall pointscore by one point, from season nemesis Richard Holstein and Stewart Kellie’s Next.

Rod Gibbs, who placed second in Division E and current leader of the overall pointscore, with his Flying Tiger, Shere Khan, was the lucky winner of the Audi Drive Weekend and will now drive a luxury Audi of his choosing for a weekend.

Other winners today were: Espresso Forte (Laurence Freedman) Division A1; Honeysuckle (Ray Harris) Division B; Online (Stephen Trevillion) Division C; Orbit (Matthew Brown) Division E; Illusion (Kim Jaggar and Travis Read) Division F; Broulee (Karen Hawkett) Division H; Lahara II (Glenn Crane) Division J and Star Ferry (John Conroy) Division K.

With only one race remaining in the Audi Winter Series, divisional pointscore leaders will need grit and determination to hold onto their lead. Division leaders are: Brindabella (Jim Cooney) Division A1; Occasional Coarse Language 2 (Warwick Sherman) Division A2; Solahart-Rum Jungle (The Lost Boys Syndicate) Division B; Into the Mystic (Arthur Psaltis and Jon Ross) Division C; M (Steve Hatch) Division D; Shere Khan (Rod Gibbs) Division E; Mortgage Choice Rhumba (Carr, Cook and Burke) Division F; Wild Blue Yonder (Terry Rhodes) Division G; Clewless ? (Lachlan and Guy Irwin) Division H; Lahara II (Glenn Crane) Division J; L’Eau Co (Grant Pollock) Division K; and Thirlmere (Sally Warneford and Larry Jamieson) Sydney 38.

The Audi Winter Series continues next Sunday from Full CYCA website