Pussy Galore rips around Burnsco White Island track

by Sail-World on 2 Dec 2006
The first competitor in the 2006 Burnsco White Island race is expected to finish the 310nm mile course in the early hours of Sunday morning NZT, taking just over 30 hours for the event.

Pussy Galore, a Cookson 50 skippered by Anatole Masfen has dominated the race from the start, and at the 1840 sked on Saturday night she was about four hours ahead of the second boat Andar (Skip Miller) with the Marten 49 Carrera (John Meadowcroft) close behind in third.

After Pussy Galore the remainder of the fleet were expected to finish in daylight from about 0600hrs when the second finisher was expected, and with the final boat in about mid-afternoon Sunday.

So far three boats have retired from the event.

Fulmar a Farr 11.6 ran over her spinnaker at the start, and later suffered steering problems, putting into Port Charles on the end of Cape Colville.

Ran Tan II, an Elliott 50, also suffered steering problems, claiming they were in the lead when they had to withdraw, and have returned to Auckland.

Pacific Sundance a Farr IOR 40, started two hours late due to electrical problems and then broke her main halyard well into the Bay of Plenty, she has had to return to Auckland under jib and diesel.

Conditions have made for fast sailing with breezes of 20-25 knots for much of the race, starting with a SW and turning to a 20-25 kt SE breeze as the leaders sailed across the Bay of Plenty on the way to rounding White Island.

The final leg from Channel Island to the finish off Orakei Wharf was expected to be either a beat , or a lay through with sheets just cracked, in a testing breeze.

Pussy Galore was expected to set a new race record for the event which looks set to become an annual fixture on the offshore calendar. Race Director, Fendall Halliburton told Sail-World that he would have been happy with just six entries for the revamped event however the final fleet of 18 boats was unexpected and there had been a lot of interest around the Auckland racing scene indicating that number would be higher next year.

In the last White Island Race in 1986, the event was won by Fred Price skippering a Chico 40 and before that the event had been the domain of the IOR boats, the Cookson 50’s performance is expected to be well ahead of the forerunners in the event.

Projected Finishing order 2006 Burnsco White Island Race

Name	Start	Finish time	Elapsed
Pussy Galore	Fri 01 Dec 18:35	Sun 03 Dec 01:46:54	31:11:54
Andar	Fri 01 Dec 18:35	Sun 03 Dec 06:16:07	35:41:07
Carrera	Fri 01 Dec 18:35	Sun 03 Dec 07:01:35	36:26:35
Second Nature	Fri 01 Dec 18:35	Sun 03 Dec 11:33:33	40:58:33
Viva	Fri 01 Dec 18:35	Sun 03 Dec 12:49:00	42:14:00
Whitebait	Fri 01 Dec 18:35	Sun 03 Dec 13:32:50	42:57:50
Bavarian Wave	Fri 01 Dec 18:35	Sun 03 Dec 14:29:05	43:54:05
Fun n Games	Fri 01 Dec 18:35	Sun 03 Dec 15:08:16	44:33:16
Prawn Broker	Fri 01 Dec 18:35	Sun 03 Dec 15:08:16	44:33:16
Pebble Rebel	Fri 01 Dec 18:35	Sun 03 Dec 15:28:27	44:53:27
Advantage	Fri 01 Dec 18:35	Sun 03 Dec 15:38:44	45:03:44
Kirsten J	Fri 01 Dec 18:35	Sun 03 Dec 15:47:03	45:12:03
Danaide	Fri 01 Dec 18:35	Sun 03 Dec 18:29:06	47:54:06
Nevenka	Fri 01 Dec 18:35	Sun 03 Dec 21:12:47	50:37:47
Candu II	Fri 01 Dec 18:35	Sun 03 Dec 23:03:58	52:28:58
Fulmar			DNF
Pacific Sundance			DNF
Ran Tan II			DNF

Back to top

Projected PHRF Results

Pos	Name	PHRF	Corrected
1.	Kirsten J	0.725	32:46:14
2.	Second Nature	0.820	33:36:00
3.	Pussy Galore	1.090	34:00:22
4.	Andar	1.010	36:02:31
5.	Whitebait	0.840	36:05:22
6.	Bavarian Wave	0.825	36:13:07
7.	Fun n Games	0.813	36:13:21
8.	Carrera	0.995	36:15:39
9.	Prawn Broker	0.820	36:32:04
10.	Pebble Rebel	0.830	37:15:33
11.	Viva	0.885	37:22:35
12.	Candu II	0.720	37:47:15
13.	Nevenka	0.760	38:28:42
14.	Danaide	0.805	38:33:39
	Fulmar		DNF
	Pacific Sundance		DNF
	Ran Tan II		DNF

Back to top

Projected IRC Results

Pos	Name	IRC	Corrected
1.	Pussy Galore	1.333	41:35:14
2.	Second Nature	1.089	44:37:21
3.	Bavarian Wave	1.062	46:37:23
4.	Advantage	1.039	46:49:10
5.	Viva	1.133	47:51:01
6.	Fun n Games	1.088	48:28:30
7.	Danaide	1.065	51:00:54
8.	Candu II	1.002	52:35:15
	Fulmar		DNF
	Pacific Sundance		DNF
	Ran Tan II		DNF

Back to top

Projected ORC Club Results

Pos	Name	OT	OD	Corrected
1.	Whitebait	0.833	87.3	28:23:30
2.	Bavarian Wave	0.704	24.4	28:50:20
3.	Nevenka	0.738	94.5	29:21:26
4.	Danaide	0.821	101.4	30:44:07
	Fulmar			DNF