The penultimate day of racing for yachts in the Combined Clubs Harbour Series produced near perfect sailing conditions on the Derwent today – with four different boats sharing the spoils in Division 1.
Shaun Tiedemann’s Sydney 36cr Philosopher was again the dominant boat in the two windward/leeward races for Division 1 and 2, notching up three wins in the handicap categories.
With young Sam Tiedemann on the helm and a hot-shot crew revelling in the cut-and-thrust of round-the buoys racing, Philosopher won the IRC category in both races and the AMS category in race 10.
With one race day to go, on Saturday, 25 March, Philosopher holds and commanding point score lead in IRC and AMS.
The south-easterly sea breeze freshened from 10 to 16 knots during the afternoon, providing some exhilarating spinnaker runs.
The other winners yesterday were Gavin Adamson’s Mumm 36 Madness in Race 9 (PHS), Jeff Cordell’s Mumm 36 B&G Advantage also in race 9 (AMS) and Wayne Banks-Smith’s Farr 40, War Games in race 10 (PHS).
Competition was close in Division 1, both in fleet racing and on corrected time, several races decided by seconds.
In Division 2, series leader Saga (Chris Sheehan) notched up a third and a win to maintain its point score lead under PHS scoring. The other winner was Dave Willans’ Trouble which took line and handicap honours in a close race with Wildfire (Malcolm Robinson).
Two veteran yachts John Hunn, helming Atilla, and Charles Peacock (Serica) fought out top corrected time honours in Division 4.
They crossed the finish line seconds apart with Atilla taking handicap honours by less than a minute from Serica. Juana (Jock Young) placed third.
In Division 6, Rod Williams’ Alibi II had a 19 second win corrected time from Kamehameha (F Chatterton and M Woodward). In third place was series leader Innovator ((Ian Smith and D Aberle)
Words: Peter Campbell
4 March 2017
