Line Honours Winners declared in Pittwater to Paradise
by Katie Pellew 5 Jan 12:50 PST
2-9 January 2019
Second placed monohull, Highly Sprung, crossing the finish line © RPAYC
Drew Carruther’s Drew 15, Rushour had a very comfortable trip north with pleasant hot meals to cross the finish line at 15:50 AEDT, taking multihull line honours in the 2019 Club Marine Pittwater to Paradise Regatta, Sunday 5 January.
An elated Drew commented: ‘’Whilst there can be up to 15 people crammed into a small monohull, on our multihull it is very comfortable and goes a relatively similar speed to the monohulls. We were very lucky, when Morticia unfortunately had to pull out we backed off a little with our only goal being to make sure that we were the first boat home which we obviously achieved. Once we got past the first night we had beautiful sailing, it wasn’t too rough just a little light on the wind at times. It was disappointing to lose our fellow multihulls, but that is one of the risks in the sport. The next race for the boat will be Brisbane to Gladstone’’.
In the monohull fleet Pretty Woman, the Farr 45 co-owned by RPAYC Commodore, Michael Lockley, Richard Hudson and Russell Murphy, took line honours finishing at 16:57 AEDT.
Richard had this to say post-race: ‘’I thoroughly enjoyed the race, the toughest bit was getting around Cape Byron, that was physiologically challenging. Our crew morale was excellent, they had a lot of fun, a good mixture of youth & experience. This was our first line honours win outside a club race on board Pretty Woman so we are very pleased with that.
Highly Sprung were always close behind and it felt like they were attached on a piece of shock cord. What we did appreciate was that we led from the starting gun, we got out of the start nicely and never let anyone in front of us”.
Michael Lockley – RPAYC Club Commodore: ‘’We’ve had a good race, all of the Youth Development members on the boat were fantastic. Our catering was right down to the wire and we may have run out prior to the finish.’
Commenting on the race itself Michael said ‘’A positive side of the Pittwater to Paradise Race is that it gives the opportunity for everyone to go racing whether it is north or south, with a different set of time restraints. Also ideal for those who are not yet up to a Hobart Race, or would like to use this as a stepping stone to the Hobart, it gives them an entrée into how a long ocean race might work and how you prepare and deal with it, how to put a crew together and who you need. The Race has been a success, unfortunately we have had a few retirements, the good news about that is people were able to make some decisions and get some safe outcomes if things didn’t quite go right’’.
Second over the line in the monohulls and current winner of IRC, ORCi & PHS, Mark Springs Beneteau 45 Highly Sprung, followed close on Pretty Woman’s heels only 14 minutes later at 17:11 AEDT, enjoying a very close battle.
‘’The first night was pretty rough for the new guys on the boat, it was definitely an initiation for them, then pretty much champagne sailing after that. 4 of us are very new to the sport of racing, having sailed for a long time but never raced offshore, then we have some amazing professionals on-board, with at least 6 very seasoned sailors. We had a ball, having Pretty Woman just ahead of us was a great motivation, we would look up and they were just there, they got away from us on the second day and so overnight the team worked really hard just pushing every second of it and we caught her. It was a great race and we look forward to a drink and chat with them’’.
At the time of writing we currently have 4 boats still racing with the next boat due this morning. The fleet can be tracked here
Following the 370nm category 2 ocean race is the Southport Yacht Club’s spectacular summer offshore sailing regatta, the Bartercard Sail Paradise series. Four days of racing will be staged on the beautiful ocean waters off the Gold Coast’s golden beaches from Sunday 6 to Wednesday 9 January 2019. Both events have been combined to create an offshore series for competitors and the ultimate winner of the ‘Pittwater to Paradise Regatta’.