15 Sydney 36CR’s sold - three heading for Melbourne now

by Azzura Marine Media on 7 Feb 2007 By August 2007 there will be three new Sydney 36 CR’s racing at Sandringham Yacht Club belonging to proud boat owners Dennis Hambleton, John Willett and Les Browne.

All of these buyers when seeking their ultimate yacht wanted a boat that performed exceptionally well under IRC and most importantly built to a high construction standard and stiff enough to withstand the open ocean conditions on Port Phillip Bay.

'Azzura Marine builds the Sydney 36CR with balsa and foam sandwich core and as a standard procedure vacuum bag all bulkheads. The boats have a highly engineered fibreglass structural grid instead of steel and every bulkhead is hand glassed in for optimum stiffness and weight saving.

Unlike the European boats which are built for the lighter breezes, Sydney Yachts is the only Australian company designing and building production boats tailored for the Southern Ocean conditions.' Says Martin Thompson of Sydney Yachts.

'The Sydney 36 Cruiser Racer appeals to a wide range of sailors with a common desire to make sailing easier, while requiring less crew, yet still maintaining the outstanding performance that Sydney Yachts are renowned. The combination between the simplicity of a non overlapping headsail rig and an asymmetric spinnaker option promotes the desire for a yacht that is easy to manage, yet exciting to sail.' Explained Martin

Each of the new Sydney 36CR’s going to Melbourne will be raced socially in the clubs mid week and weekend racing and will also be partaking in a lot of cruising and entertaining.

Dennis Hambleton was the first to proceed with a Sydney 36CR after flying to Sydney to test sail the boat. 'I wanted to move up from my Beneteau 32S5. I had looked at all the boats and done a lot of research. I was looking for an easy to sail but competitive boat. With high ballast to displacement ratio of over 40%, non overlapping headsails, an asymmetric spinnaker set up, and a modern low maintenance interior, the 36CR was a standout choice for me'.

John Willett purchased his Sydney 36CR after one of the most fortunate test sails possible. 'We headed out in 15 knots then it blew up to 30 knots on the dial and an hour later we were back to 5 knots after the brief front passed through. You can tell the Sydney Yachts guys have confidence in their products performance when they are winding the mainsail on in 30 knots rather than easing it.' John commented.

Following in the footsteps of the 47 and 39 cruiser racers, the 36 CR results achieved to date already indicate these new boats coming to Melbourne are going to be a lot of fun and also deliver some exceptional racing results on Port Phillip Bay.