Stage is set for Flinders Islet show down

Ichi Ban won the 2018 Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore Series and is looking forward to the 2019 season © Cruising Yacht Club of Australia

The second act of the Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore Series (Audi Centre Sydney BWPS) sets off this Saturday, in what looks to be tactical northerly conditions. Thirty five yachts will compete in the 92-nautical-mile dash from Sydney to Flinders Islet, south-east of Wollongong, and back.

In the race for line honours, JV62 Chinese Whisper is assured to have a tough battle with RP63 No Limit. Chinese Whisper narrowly edged out No Limit in the Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race, the first race in the Audi Centre Sydney BWPS.

The two crews spent most of the race side by side in the predominantly downwind running conditions. Yet, this weekend's Flinders Islet Race is likely to have a mix of both upwind and downwind sailing and will exploit any weaknesses the teams may have.

The TP52 fleet were also competitive in the Noakes Sydney Gold Coast taking the top seven places in IRC overall. Among the seven TP52s entered in this weekend's Flinders Islet Race is current conventionally ballasted line honours record holder Koa, owned by Peter Wrigley and Andy Kearnan, and 2018 winner Ichi Ban.

Owner of Ichi Ban and last year's Audi Centre Sydney BWPS winner, Matt Allen AM said, "This weekend brings Race 2 of the series and we're looking forward to getting out there and doing some coastal racing. There's lots of work to do before the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, so we're using the next few races as an opportunity to bed-in our new mast.

"We had a great time in the Audi Centre Sydney BWPS last year, and obviously looking forward to the amazing competition this year against the other TP52s as well as the rest of the fleet. There's going to be a lot of boat-on-boat action in the Series, and we're looking forward to the challenge.

"We're conscious that the other TP52s have done a lot of sailing since this time last year, and they're going to be harder to beat," he finished.

Also in the mix for the overall win is Cookson 50 About Time who are a competitive team skippered by Julian Farren-Price. About Time placed second in the 2018 Mount Gay Ocean Pointscore Series, and know their strength is in lighter winds at around 10 knots.

The Flinders Islet Race is the second event in the Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore Series, starting at 1000hrs on Saturday 21 September off Point Piper in Sydney Harbour.

"Audi Centre Sydney is proud to be involved in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's premier yacht-racing Series," said Audi Centre Sydney General Manager Philip Jewell.

"The Series is all about high performance - something we see has a clear synergy with our brand - and is one of the world's most elite sailing series."

Go to www.bwps.cyca.com.au to stay up to date with the race tracker, results, photos and video of the start. Fans, participants and media are encourgaed to tag their Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore Series content with the official hashtag #AudiCentreSydneyBWPS.