Hat trick for Eddington at MUMM 30 titles

by Sam Crichton on 5 Feb 2007 After three days of racing on the Palm Beach Circle off Barrenjoey Head, Victorian Bruce Eddington and his team on K2 have won their third successive MUMM 30 Australian Champion title.

The final day of racing and the 11 boat fleet was held under postponement for an hour and a half while the race committee waited for the breeze to fill in enough to get a race away. In a eight knot east sou’east breeze with flat seas the fleet headed off.

Eddington and his team again won race eight of the series to wrapped up the title, his second regatta win two weeks having won the MUMM 30 class at the Acura Key West Race Week in Florida in late January.

Crossing the line just 11 seconds after K2 was class newcomer Guy Stening’s Optimumm who have proved themselves over the last three days. Optimumm was previously KATO which won this event last year with Eddington at the helm. Newcastle local team Tow Truck steered by owner Anthony Paterson slipped across the line to take third place for the first race of the day.

'We’re thrilled to have won this event for the third time', commented Eddington. 'To win back to back regattas has been tough but we have enjoyed the challenges and racing against our Australian class members. Who knows what next year will bring, the fleet is developing in depth and numbers which is great to see'.

Sydney based boat David Price’s Bitter and Twisted started to improve on their earlier regatta results to move up to seventh over the line on two races during the last two days. 'We are having a lot of fun and enjoying racing with the class', said Price who sails out of Drummoyne Sailing Club.

The Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club race committee sent the fleet on a final race but with a drop race allowed K2 had the title sewn up. This left Chris Tillett’s Port Dock Ginja, Chris Way’s Way Cool Racing, Tow Truck and Optimumm to fight it out for the remaining two places on the podium.

On the two laps for the last time and Way Cool Racing dominated the race to take the gun and second overall for the regatta. Western Australian Steve Hindmarsh’s London Calling had a fantastic race to finish in second place for their best result of the regatta.

'We chartered this boat to race in this event and have put a lot of work into getting ready to race. The team did a terrific job over the three days and to drop a fifth place is pretty pleasing', remarked Way after racing.

Optimumm rounded out the top three for the final race and to take the boat of the day flag but missed out on the overall podium by half a point. 'It's been a great event to start off racing with the class and we are looking forward to more class racing across Australia', commented Stening after his first time racing with the MUMM 30 class.

Completing the top three boats overall was the South Australian team on Port Dock Ginja. All three of the top placed skippers have won the MUMM 30 Australian Champion title over the past six years.

'We had a great time racing with the class and I hope it continues to grow and we can race against a similar size or larger fleet next year. These boats are a lot of fun and make for really tight class racing' said Tillett.

The MUMM 30 class would like to thank Workforce Marine for their ongoing support of the class and Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club for hosting the event.

Final Results:

Place	Boat Name	Skipper	Final Score	Race 9	Race  8	Race 7	Race 6	Race  5	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1	K2	B Eddington (SYC) VIC	13.00	[12.00C]	1.00	2.00	4.00	1.00	2.00	1.00	1.00	1.00
2	Way Cool Racing	C Way/G Couell (RPAYC) NSW	19.00	1.00	5.00	3.00	1.00	2.00	3.00	2.00	[5.00]	2.00
3	Port Dock Ginja	C Tillett (CYCSA) SA	24.00	4.00	4.00	1.00	2.00	3.00	[6.00]	3.00	4.00	3.00
4	Optimumm	G Stening (RSYS) NSW	24.50	3.00	2.00	4.00	3.00	[5.00]	1.00	4.50	3.00	4.00
5	Tow Truck	A Paterson (LMYC)	34.00	5.00	3.00	6.00	5.00	4.00	4.00	[7.00]	2.00	5.00
6	Mumbles	C Loel (RQYS) QLD	48.00	6.00	6.00	5.00	6.00	6.00	7.00	6.00	6.00	[10.00]
7	London Calling	S Hindmarsh (RPYC) WA	56.00	2.00	9.00	8.00	8.00	8.00	8.00	[9.00]	7.00	6.00
8	Rumbo	G Holbert (PSYC) NSW	59.50	7.00	10.00	9.00	7.00	9.00	5.00	4.50	[12.00Q]	8.00
9	Synergy	A Douglas (RQYS) QLD	71.00	9.00	[11.00]	10.00	10.00	7.00	9.00	8.00	9.00	9.00
10	Immigrant	J Paul (PCSC) QLD	72.00	10.00	8.00	[11.00]	9.00	10.00	10.00	10.00	8.00	7.00
11	Bitter & Twisted	D Price (DSC) NSW	76.00	8.00	7.00	7.00	11.00	11.00	11.00	11.00	10.00	[11.00]