John Hassen wins S80 Legends Race
by Bernie Kaaks 30 Nov 2017 11:58 PST
Robins and Lovelady traded tacks throughout the race – S80 Legends Race © Bernie Kaaks
An emotional John Hassen heaped praise on his crew in his acceptance speech following victory in the S80 Legends' Race hosted by Royal Perth Yacht Club on the Swan River.
Twenty four yachts lined up at the fixed start line, most chasing the start box end to give themselves the inside running at the first mark. Hassen, sailing Balancing Act, the boat he owned some years ago before transferring his interest to a Flying Fifteen, timed his start perfectly to lead the bunch and consolidate his lead during the first leg, upwind to the Perth Flying Squadron. Despite a few nervous moments on the second upwind leg, which sailed right across the river to Bricklanding buoys, Balancing Act was never threatened by the chasing pack and went on to a very comfortable victory.
Locked in an entertaining battle for second place was last year's winner Mark Robins and Mark Lovelady, both past State champions in the S80 class. While these two were locked in combat, the wily Gordon Lucas took advantage of the situation and when Lovelady had to negotiate some heavy traffic near the finish line and slipped through to snare third place behind Robins and Hassen.
The idea for a legends' race was born a year ago to celebrate the life of Alan Tough, a previous chairman of the S80 Association, who passed away last year. It was so well supported then that it was decided to make it an annual event. Alan Tough's sister Diane Airey and her family donated a perpetual trophy for the race and Diane made the presentations.
The race attracted many of the old timers both as helmsmen and crew. They were joined by a number of current helmsmen, but as the results confirmed, most of the old timers have not lost any of their skills. None of the three placegetters are currently sailing in the class though all have made major contributions to its ongoing success. Ray Smith, who now competes in Etchells, sail maker Geoff Bishop, Simon Plunkett, who now sails an S97, Dennis Vincent, who has moved into a Beneteau 34.7 and many other class stalwarts of yesteryear thoroughly enjoyed the camaraderie and the telling of lies continued well into the evening.
Co-designer Andy White, who drew up the S80 concept plans with John Ducat, was one of the guest skippers on the day, as was the boat's original builder Kim Swarbrick, who regaled the pre-race luncheon with some interesting snippets about the boat's development. The S80 is still a popular fleet on the Swan River and with initiatives such as the Legends' Race, will continue to draw its fair share of followers.