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Prominent Hobart yachtsmen continue to dominate results in the SB20 one-design sportsboat ‘Cowes Grand Slam’ being sailed on The Solent off Cowes on the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England.

The SB20s are racing as part of the historic Cowes Week with The Solent overnight turning on very windy conditions – 20-plus knots gusting to 30 in the late afternoon.

The Cowes Grand Slam is one of the lead-up regattas on Th Solent for the 2017 World championship for the SB20s with six crews expected to compete.  The Royal Yacht Squadron at Cowes is running the Worlds which will be held in Hobart in 2018.

SB20's racing off Cowes today.

Paul Burnell became the second Australian to win a race at Cowes Week, steering the British yacht Marvel to first place in race four on day two of the regatta.  His brother Tim is sailing as crew with owner Richard Powell.

Despite two wins by the strong British continent, Tasmania’s Porco Rosso, with Elliott Noye on the helm, has maintained overall lead with placings of 2-3 on day 2 following a third and a first on day one.

Porco Rosso has 9 points, with Marvel on 11 points (4-3-3-1) and another UK boat, Xcellent, on 12 points, and Australia’s Export (Michael Cooper) fourth on 13 points..

Hypertronics (Stephen Catchpool) finished sixth and ninth across the line in today’s two races but received at late penalty (NOD) for failing to lodge a declaration after the racing. It cost 33 points for each race and has dropped the Hobart boat to 21st overall.

Smigger (Andrew Smith) has found the conditions tough going with an 18 and 17 in yesterday's races.

The stand out helm at the Lendy Cowes Week has certainly been young Tasmanian sailor Elliot Noye.

Jane Austin (SB20AUS media) spoke with Elliot after yesterday’s racing:

"We (Porco Rosso) had a really good day - we had plenty of boat speed - we were sitting first for the majority of race three,” Elliott said.

“We had an unfortunate gybe where we had to ditch the spinnaker and drop the halyard so that cost us probably ten or fifteen seconds which gave enough room for a British boat to get passed us - but we were very happy with second."

"Going in to Race four we had a solid game plan to go right in the first beat and that worked out OK - we were round the top mark in about third and managed to get ourselves into second.

“At the second top mark we hit the mark and had to take a one  per cent time penalty, and we finished third overall in that race. “However, overall with a two and three today we are very happy."

Noye described the conditions on day two as “ pretty tricky”, adding “ we had quite a bit of breeze on and a bit of tide as well.

“There was some short tacking up there in the first race …you just had to get out of the tide. We started in about 15 knots and built to 20 gusting to 25-20 - we had a bit on and our downward rides were great."

Noye’s thoughts on the Australian fleet as it shapes up for the SB20 2017 World Championship to be sailed at Cowes in late August: "Its great to see the Aussie guys coming over here and doing really well.

‘’We have a strong contingent back home and coming over here and learning how to sail [on The Solent] is only going to put us in good stead for the Worlds here,” Noye added.

Words:  Jane Austin/Peter Campbell

Photos:  Jane Austin

31 July 2017
 

Tasmanian SB20 one-design sports boats, Export Roo and Porco Rosso,  are equal first on points after day one of class racing at historic Cowes Week on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England.

Export Roo, skippered by Michael Cooper,  had two second places while Porto Rosso, with Elliott Noye on the helm had a third and a win in the almost entirely British fleet.

Cowes Week is being used by Cooper, Noye,  Stephen Catchpool (Hypertronics) and Andrew Smith (Smigger) as part of their lead-up to the 2017 World championships on The Solent in late August.

The Tasmanian crews coped well with the tricky sailing conditions of The Solent, a west-south-westerly breeze with the current at the top mark at least three knots flowing against the boats.

Tacking up the shore to escape the strong tide each of the Australian boats hit the bottom several times. “I’ve never experienced hitting the bottom so many times in a race before,” commented Cooper, who has contested the past two World championships with impressive results.

The SB20 fleet at Cowes started race one off the historic Royal Yacht Squadron.

Reporting from Cowes, Hobart marine photographer Jane Austin quoted Cooper, Catchpool and Paul McCartney, owner and crew member of Porco Rosso.

Race one start line was off the Royal Yacht Squadron, along with close to one thousand other boats in a multitude of other classes that make up the UK’s traditional regatta.

Paul McCartney commented: “This is about learning to sail The Solent. In the first race, we rounded in first but a navigational error took us back to third. In the second, we came off the start and went right - that's where the breeze seemed to be.

“It went very very soft - it was very hard to keep the boat moving particularly through all this chop and swell. We kept at it and managed to stay up the front. The shortened course - we were very pleased with that".

Michael Cooper said he had never experienced hitting the bottom so many times in a race before. I think we hit it five times - most of the fleet hit it at some point.

Cowes Week - and competing yachts have to contenc with fast ferries and large ships on The Solent

“And that's what you have to do - you hit the bottom and you tack because the tide runs so strong down the shore. It was a long race, it was round the bay racing so we ended up on the other shore, then we prepared for the second race which was windward/leewards.

“The Aussies sailed really well - they were consistent - most of them were up there at the top mark in most races. It was good to see the Hobart fleet is on the pace." (Hobart will host the 2018 Worlds next January).

SB20 Australian class president Stephen Catchpool summarised the day:  "Difficult racing - strong tides - had to tack up the shore - we scraped the bottom two to three times.

“Never really sure how far we could go in. We went for a reach and a run and picked up quite a few places, finished in 15 places.

“Race Two - got a good start – one-mile beats - we were fifth to the top mark on the first lap, seventh on the second lap and they shortened at the bottom; we had a bad gybe at the bottom and we lost two places.

“Tomorrow is going to be very windy. Hopefully we won't be tacking up that shore in 25-20 knots. we have a better idea now than we did this morning about where we can and can't go. it's really not very well marked. There are little oil containers floating along the shore which apparently mean you can't go too close as its too shallow - but we thought they were lobster pots.”

As SB20 Australian president said: "The Aussies are doing very well with a first, second and third Four Australians in the top 10 - I think we are performing pretty well.”

South-westerly winds of 6-20 knots, gusting to 25 knots are predicted for day two of Cowes Week.

On Lake Garda, Italy, Tasmanian Rob Gough has finished 25th overall in the gold fleet at the foiler Moth World championship. Results are not available for the Masters division but Gough was at the top of leader board going into the gold fleet racing.

Gough’s next sailing campaign will be the SB20 Worlds at Cowes, sailing Difficult Woman.

Words:  Jane Austin/Peter Campbell

Photos: Jane Austin

30 July 2017

Only one point separates the two top-placed yachts in Divisions 1 and 3 of the Derwent Sailing Squadron’s Winter Series.

Sunday saw day three of the DSS series, sailed in a steady northerly breeze on a bleak and showery morning on the Derwent. The forecast saw all three divisions depleted by non-starters.

A third place in Division 1 on Sunday lifted the classic eight-metre class yacht Juana, skippered by Jock Young, into first place.  However, Juana’s margin is just one point from Gary Cripps Ciao Baby II which placed fourth.

A beat to windward on the first leg of the race saw War Games (Wayne Banks-Smith) open up a big lead and take line honours, but the winning margin it was not sufficient to beat the lower rating Zypher (Ian Johnston).

The Latham Syndicate’s J24 T42 Another Toy scored its third successive win in Division 2 to open up a commanding pointscore lead from Sunday’s runner-up, Mark Ballard’s 42 South, and Moonshadow (Anthony Ellis).

T42 Another Toy is on 3 points after race three of the five race winter series, with 42 South on 9.5 and Moonshadow on 10 points.

Mark Ballard's 42 South finished second in Division 2.

The leader board is really tight in Division 3 with Serenity (Graham Hall) and Vistula (Greg Biskup) both on 6 points after they finished second and third respectively to Trad Jazz-NT (Christopher Thomson) which is on 7 points.

In the SB20 one-design sportsboat class, Paul Burnell and his sons had a good day’s sailing with Honey Badger, with  a first and a third in the two races sailed.

Former Sharpie champion Frazer Read won the first race from Karabos (Nick Rogers) and Honey Badger with the Burnells taking the second, race seven of the winter series, from Big Ted (Tom Stearns) and Team Musto (George Peacock).

After seven winter pennant races for the SB20s, Honey Badger is on 14 points, Team Musto 19 and Difficult Woman (Rob Gough) on 22 points.

Gough was a non-starter on Sunday, as he is currently in Europe, contesting the foiler Moth Italian championships.

Words: Peter Campbell

Photos:  Peter Watson/Michelle Denney

24 July 2017

 

Hobart women sailors today continued to demonstrate their skills in the SB20 one-design sports boat class, gaining top placings on the Derwent Sailing Squadron’s second day of its winter racing on the Derwent.

Champion sailor Rob Gough, steering Difficult Woman, had a fight on his hands to two win the first race (race four of the DSS Battery World Winter Series) from two women skippers and their all-women crews.

Gough won by just over a minute from Clare Brown, helming jo Breen’s Fire of Athena, with just two seconds to Colleen Darcey steering Pride of Athena in a male dominated fleet.

Yesterday’s race was sailed in an at-times frustrating 6-10 knot northerly breeze on a sunny, but very cold winter’s morning. The land temperature in Hobart at the start of racing was under 3 degrees.

Racing today in DSS WInter Series.

Darcey and Brown were members of the Tasmanian team that won the IRC division at the recent Australian Women’s Keelboat Regatta in Melbourne, Darcey as skipper and Brown as tactician.

The two all-women crews also placed second and third under PHS handicap scoring, Brown beating Darcey by just five seconds.

In the second SB20 class race of the day, Nick Rogers, helming Karabos, scored a two seconds win from Paul Burnell steering Honey Badger.

Team Musto (George Peacock) placed third, Difficult Woman fourth.  Colleen Darcey finished sixth in fleet, Clare Brown eighth.

Colleen Darcey at the helm of Pride of Athena today.

Yachting regatta supporter Gary Cripps scored a runaway outright win in Division 1 for cruiser/racer keelboats in his Sydney 38 Ciao Baby II.

Cripps and his crew got an early break in the light and flukey breeze to finish more than eight minutes ahead of the Farr 40 War Games.

On corrected time Ciao Baby II won by two and a half minutes from the Eight Metre class yacht Juana (Jock Young) and Winstead Wines (Neil Snare).

Division 2 proved much closer, with Hydrotherapy (Roger Masters) and T42 Another Toy (Latham Syndicate) duelling around the course to finish less than a minute apart at the finish line.

Hydrotherapy took line and handicap honours from T42 Another Toy and Off-Piste (Paul Einoder).

The order of finish was also the order on handicap in Division 3: Serenity (Graham Hall), Vistula (Gregory Biskup) and Cool Change (Chris Bobbi).

Words:  Peter Campbell

Photos:  Michelle Denney

 

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