Zephyr means a ‘light, gentle breeze’ but it was quite the opposite when the yacht named Zephyr won the Barnes Day Regatta on Friday.

In fact, it was howling out of the north-west at 25-38 knots in the afternoon, with Division 2 yachts not racing because of the near galeforce winds and several Division 1 forced to retire due to damage.

Ian Johnston and his crew of Zephyr took first place on corrected time in both the passage race from Wrest Point to Dennes Point and in the race on Bruny Island’s Barnes Bay.

The Farr 41 MX, originally from Hong Kong, finished second across the line in both races, winning the morning passage race from Liberte Express (Peter Williams) and Philosopher (Shaun Tiedemann).

In the afternoon race in Barnes Bay, Zephyr won from Philosopher, which took line honours, and Ciao Baby II (Bill Batt).

Tilt (Peter and Catherine Cretan) led the fleet down the Derwent to Dennes Point in the morning passage race, but in the heavy wind of race two, the Marten 49 had difficulty in gybing around the windward mark.

The reefed down Philosopher took the lead to finish just 23 seconds ahead of Zephyr withTilt dropping back to finish fourth in fleet.

Filepro (Tim Gadsby) retired with a torn mainsail.

Overall, Zephyr won Division 1 of the Barnes Bay Regatta, conducted by Kingborough Boating Club, with 2 points from Philosopher on 5 points and Ciao Baby II on 8 points.

With Division 2 restricted to one race the overall results were based on results from the Wrest Point to Dennes Point race in which Breakaway (Victoria Logan) won from Athena (Jane and Phil Mason) with Young One (Nathan Mills and Jay Nibbs) and L’Etoile (Mark Dawson) equal third.

In the China Sea Race, 565 nautical miles from Hong Kong to Subic Bay in the Philippines, the Tasmanian owned and skippered Alive has finished first monohull after a frustrating final day nearing the finish.

Line honours went to the trimaran MOD Beau Geste in record time for a multihull.

Words Peter Campbell

Photo Peter Watson

31 March 2018

Yachts competing in the Barnes Bay Regatta and the Port Esperance Regatta over Easter will be sailing in some of southern Tasmania’s most historic waterways, the DÉntrecasteaux Channel.

The two regattas offer a weekend of racing and cruising with social activities ashore at the one-time Quarantine Station on Bruny Island on Good Friday and at Port Esperance Sailing Club at Dover on Easter Saturday and Sunday.

Dutchman navigator Abel Tasman sighted the southern entrance to the Channel in 1642 and Frenchman Bruni dÉntrecasteaux surveyed the Channel in 1792.  Another notable French explorer,  Nicholas Baudin, anchored his ships Georgraphe and Naturaliste at Port Esperance in 1801.

The Barnes Bay Regatta is the traditional end-of-season regatta and social gathering of yachties who have raced over the summer, joined by cruising yachts and motor cruisers.

Entries close tomorrow, Tuesday, 27 March and can be lodged online at sailing@dssinc.org.au.

Good Friday starts with a pursuit style feeder race from Wrest Point to Dennes Point at 0900. Barnes Bay Regatta races start at 1400 hours, followed by a barbeque ashore at the Quarantine Station.

“In addition to the gourmet lamb burger the event is famous for there will be a fish offering this year,”  Kingborough Boating Club Commodore Peter Williams reported.

“There will be $1500 worth of prizes on offer for the feeder racing and the afternoon regatta…with the participation of cruisers and motor cruisers,” he added.

With the Easter long weekend ahead, it is expected that quite a number of yachts will continue down the Channel following the Barnes Bay Regatta to join in the Port Esperance Sailing Club’s Easter Regatta at Dover.

Port Esperance Sailing Club is the southernmost sailing club in Australia, with the regatta open to mono-hull and multi-hull yachts, sports boats, trailable yachts and off-the-beach boats.

The regatta will kick off with on Easter Saturday morning with a race from Barnes Bay to Dover followed by regatta racing on Port Esperance and in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel that afternoon and on Easter Sunday.

As at Barnes Bay, the Port Esperance Regatta includes plenty of social activities ashore, including a welcome spit roast on the Saturday evening at the Port Esperance Sailing Club with fine rock, blues and soul music from bands ‘Southern Discomfort’ and ‘Los Pescadores’.

Information from www.pesc.com.au or Commodore Matt Wardell on 0428 279 002 or email commodore@pesc.com.au

Words & Photos:  Peter Campbell

26 March 2018

 

 

 

 

Tasmania’s second entrant in the Melbourne to Osaka Yacht Race, Force Eleven, will set sail tomorrow (Sunday) with the main body of the fleet in the double-handed, 5,500 nautical mile ocean race to Japan.

Sailed by Tristan Gourlay and Jamie Cooper, the modified Adams 11.9m sloop will join 15 of the 19-boat fleet in starting from Sandringham Yacht Club in the staggered start for the marathon voyage.

Watching the start from the sailing training brigantine Young Endeavour will be Gourlay’s father Ken, who in 2007 completed a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the world.

The Launceston-based Ken Gourlay is the only Tasmanian to have achieved this feat and the oldest and fastest Australian to do so.

Also aboard Young Endeavour will be Jessica Watson, who in 2010, at the age of 16, completed a southern hemisphere solo non-stop circumnavigation.

First away, early last week, was Morning Mist, an S&S34 sailed by Tasmanians Jo Breen and Peter Brooks, followed by a Japanese and a West Australian yacht.

At last report, Morning Mist was making excellent time up the Australian East Coast with an ETA at Osaka in late April.

As part of their preparation for the race to Osaka, the equivalent of eight back-to-back Sydney Hobarts, Morning Mist and Force Eleven competed in the Maria Island and Melbourne to Hobart Westcoaster races.

Force Eleven won the double-handed division of the Westcoaster on handicap while Morning Mist placed sixth.

Words & photos:  Peter Campbell

24 March 2018

Hobart’s senior racing yachtsman Don Calvert today added yet another summer pennant (two, in fact) to his remarkable career with his 33-year-old Castro 40, Intrigue.

Calvert and his long-time crew sailed Intrigue almost perfectly in the perfect sailing conditions on the River Derwent for the final race of the Combined Clubs summer pennant series, winning both the AMS and IRC rating categories of Group 1.

Other pennant winners decided yesterday were, under PHS scoring were:  Tas Paints (Ian Stewart) in Group 1; Juana (Jock Young) in Group 2; Young Lion (Steve Chau) in Group 3 and Kindred Spirit (Peter Alcock) in Group 4.

Under AMS scoring the other pennant winners are: Wings Three (Peter Haros) in Group 2 and Young Lion (Steve Chau) in Group 3,  thus giving two summer pennants to both Intrigue and Young Lion.

Sailing conditions were perfect to wind up the summer pennant,  12-18 knots, with some stronger gusts up to 29 knots on a warm (29 degrees) and sunny autumn afternoon.

Bellerive Yacht Club wound up the nine-race series setting the  fleet tough windward legs plus fast spinnaker reaching and running legs,  with some spectacular downwind dashes in the gusts.

“The start off BYC 2 was in a 12-18 knot NNW breeze with a challenging beat to the top mark off Rosny Point,” BYC sailing manager Peter Watson said, in reviewing the final race.

“However there were holes appearing in the breeze as the sea-breeze attempted to make its presence felt . As the Group 1 boats turned at the mark off Sandy Bay the wind had dropped to a gentle 5 knots.

“However ‘Mother Nature’ was not going to ruin the day and on the next up wind leg the gradient Northerly breeze again freshened and stayed in for the rest of the race, with some exhilarating rides down wind,” added Watson,  who again provided the great photos of today’s racing.

Don Calvert and Intrigue, which represented Australia at the Admiral’s Cup in 1985, won the AMS category race yesterday by just 11 seconds from Shaun Tiedemann’s Philosopher to finish the series on a net 16 point.

Second overall went to Jeff Cordell’s Mumm 36 B&G Advantage on 21 points, third to Madness (Gavin Adamson),  also a Mumm 36, on 36 points.  Tas Paints placed fourth.

Intrigue won IRC pennant with a net 25 points from Tas Paints on 27 points with the veteran yacht Doctor Who (Rod Jackman) taking third place on a countback from B&G Advantage.

A second place in Group 1 PHS gave Bellerive Yacht Club vice-commodore Ian Stewart a nine point winning margin from fellow BYC boats Filepro (Tim Gadsby) and B&G Advantage (Jeff Cordell).

Derwent Sailing Squadron Commodore Steve Chau sailed his Young 88 Young Lion to a double victory in Group, winning both the AMS and PHS categories.

Young Lion won AMS from another Young 88, Saga (Chris Sheehan) and Silicon Ship (Gordon Clark and David Wyatt) and PHS from Kamehameha (Frank Chatterton) and Serica (Charles Peacock).

In Group 2, the classic 8-metre yacht Juana (Jock Young) won the PHS pennant from Twitch (syndicate) and 42 South (Mark Ballard) while AMS went to Wings Three (Peter Haros) from 42 South and Illusion (David Brett).

After being level on points going into the final race, Peter Alcock’s Kindred Spirit managed to gain a close fourth while rival Wayatih (Allan Morgan) placed fourth.

The overall result was first place to Kindred Spiritby just 2.5 points from Wayitih, with Free n Easy (Rob Jones) third overall.

Words:  Peter Campbell

Photos:  Peter Watson

17 March 2018

What more could a Hobart sailor ask for on an early autumn day – a spinnaker run down and back up a sparkling River Derwent in mostly 10 knots of breeze, 25 degrees of temperature and a clear blue sky.

That was how the crews of 47 yachts would have enjoyed yesterday’s Combined Clubs long race, the penultimate summer pennant event of the 2017-2018 racing season.

The breeze could have been stronger, firstly from the nor’nor’west and then a sou’easterly sea breeze for the run home, and there was a windless ‘hole’ in Bull Bay.

Race official Mick Hocking described conditions ‘like glass’ before the sea breeze kicked in to replace the dying northerly.

 

Looking ashore to Bruny Island, crews could have seen the ruins of James Kelly’s whaling station of the early 1800s.

Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania race officer ‘Biddy’ Badenach sent the Group A fleet down to Bull Bay on the northern end of Bruny Island, a distance of 25 nautical miles.

With the likelihood of a fading breeze, Badenach kept the other groups within the river, rounding marks at Pigeon Holes and Blackman’s Bay, a course of 19 nautical miles.

Mike Pritchard’s Cookson 50, Oskana took line honours in Group 1, but only by one minute and 40 seconds from Scott Sharp’s Melges 32, Crusader with The Fork in the Road (Gary Smith) a further one minute and 53 seconds astern.

On corrected times, Crusader won Group 1 PHS category from The Fork in Road and War Games (Wayne Banks-Smith) but Don Calvert outsailed them all in the AMS and IRC, setting up his Castro 40 Intrigue for yet another summer pennant victory on the Derwent.

Intrigue won AMS from the two Mumm 36s, B&G Advantage (Jeff Cordell) and Madness (Gavin Adamson) and IRC from War Games and Madness.

With one Combined Clubs summer pennant race to sail, Intrigue now heads both AMS and IRC rating categories with Ian Stewart’s TasPaints retaining a narrow lead in PHS.

In Group 2, Peter Haros’ Northshore 38, Wings Three, won line, AMS and PHS honours, winning AMS from 42 South (Henry Finnis), PHS from Pirate’s Pride (Peter Masterton) and the syndicate-owned Twitch.

Group 3 also saw a double win for Andrew Wise’s Madman’s Woodyard, taking AMS from Silicon Ship (Gordon Clark and David Wyatt) and PHS also from Silicon Ship, third going to Footloose (Stewart Geeves).

Steve Chau’s Young 88, Young Lion retains the overall pointscore handicap leads in Group 3, finishing fourth yesterday.

In Group 4, first home was Neville Georgeson’s Hornet, but on corrected time Wayatih (Allan Morgan) placed first from Cool Change (Chris Bobbi) and Ingenue (Nigel Johnston).

Wayatih’s win places it just half a point behind Peter Alcock’s Kindred Spirit going into the final Combined Clubs summer pennant race on Saturday, 17 March.

Words and photos:  Peter Cambell

4 February 2018