Learn
Cruise
Race
Relax
Stay

Husband and wife team Steve and Trina Davidson on Sunday sailed their I550 sports boat Dynamo to a second successive win on in the Derwent Sailing Squadron/Quantum Sails Short-Handed Series.

Revelling in the light and rather flukey breeze, the Davidson’s took out a line and handicap double in Division 5 (non-spinnaker).

On handicap they beat Coleypso (John Mills and Tim Behrens) and Chris Bobbi’s Cool Chance.

The conditions clearly suited the sports boats, with Steve Harrison’s Temptation also scoring an outright win in Division 2 (spinnaker), second place going to race one winner Whoopdido, skippered by Tom McDonald.  Mark Millhouse’s Trouble took third.

In Division 3 (non-spinnaker), Scott Morrison’s Jigsaw reversed the order over last week’s winner Wildfire, skippered by David Berechree.

Jigsaw beat Wildfire across the line by just ten seconds but won on corrected time by 3 minutes and 41 seconds.   Southern Cross (Wayne Pitt) placed third.

Graham Hall and David Short notched up a second win in Division 4 (spinnaker) with Mattieu Mongin’s Epoxy Warrior second and John Darwon’s L’Etoile third.

SB20 class veteran Nick Rogers was back afloat after a break, steering Wicked to an outright win in Division 6 (SB20 – spinnakers).   Mind Games (Phil Reid) placed second, Piste (Greg Rowlings) third.

Michael Pritchard’s Cookson 50 Oskana had a walkover as only starter in Division 1.

Words: Peter Campbell

Photos:  Peter Campbell, Peter Watson

30 April 2018

Come autumn and many keen Hobart yacht owners find they don’t have the problem of rounding up a full crews to help them race on the Derwent.

It’s now all about two-handed racing with just two sailors on board (in some divisions three) as against summer racing crews of between three and ten crew, depending on the size of the boat.

The Combined Clubs Two-Handed Long Race Series ended on Sunday, unfortunately restricted to two races because of bad weather on the first scheduled sailing day.

The series attracted 17 entrants, and although only nine boats contested Sunday’s race they nevertheless provided a colourful spinnaker start in a light northerly off Bellerive Yacht Club’s Victoria Esplanade starting box.

Both divisions went down the eastern shore to a mark off Tranmere, returning to finish off Victoria Esplanade.

Luckily for the fleet a light NE breeze developed along the eastern shore for the return leg with no wind in the middle of the River Derwent.

BYC member Mark Ballard’s 42 South won the Division 1 AMS category of the final race while Planet X (Jory Linscott) won PHS.

Overall, Off-Piste, Paul Einoder’s Beneteau Oceanis 34 Off-Piste from the RYCT won Division 1 AMS with a 1-3 score on a countback from Whistler (David Aplin) also from the RYCT, which had two seconds, third place going to 42 South.  The PHS overall trophy went to Whistler from 42 South and Planet X.

Off-Piste’s racing record is certainly versatile:  first overall in the 2015 Launceston to Hobart Race, first in AMS in the 2018 Bruny Island Race and now first in AMS in the Combined Clubs Two-Handed Long Race Series.

In Division 2, Graham Hall’s Serenity took out the series with place on Sunday following a win in race one.  Second overall went to Sunday’s winner, Whoop De Doo (Thomas Macdonald).

Next Sunday, 15 April, will see the start of the Derwent Sailing Squadron’s popular Autumn Two-Handed Series, also known as ‘Gilbert’s Two-Handed Series’ in honour of club stalwart and life member Gilbert Leitch who introduced this concept of yacht racing on the river.

The DSS Autumn Two-Handed Series comprises five races through to 13 May with the individual clubs’ Winter Series starting with Bellerive Yacht Club on 27 May.

Early entries for the DSS Autumn Two-Handed Series range from the SB20 Mind Games to the Sydney Hobart racer Oskana.

Over the winter, BYC, Derwent Sailing Squadron and the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania will conduct their Winter Series, sailing on alternative Sunday mornings.

Words:  Peter Campbell

Photos:   Peter Watson

9 April 2018

Yachts competing in the Melbourne to Osaka ocean race that were forced to shelter in Queensland ports from Cyclone Ibis early this week re-started their 5,500 nautical mile voyage to Japan on Friday.

They headed out to sea from Southport, Brisbane, Bundaberg and Gladstone for a designated re-start from their suspended racing latitude, irrespective of longitude.

The Ocean Racing Club of Victoria’s race director Simon Dryden announced the re-start plans “after careful review of the weather situation, and the conditions relating to safe exit from refuges.”

The club issued a safety warning and exclusion zone for the fleet early this week as the re-formed Cylone Iris bore down the Queensland coast.

As the fleet set sail again the little Tasmanian yacht Morning Star continued to extend her  commanding lead over the 19 boat fleet northwards in the Pacific Ocean.

Sailed by Jo Breen and Peter Brooks from Launceston’s Tamar Yacht Club, the 34-foot Morning Star was one of three yachts cleared by the ORCV as outside the cyclone’s ‘critical area’ and able to continue racing.

Morning Star, the oldest and smallest boat in the fleet, was first away from Melbourne’s Port Phillip on March 15 and is now north of Bougainville, almost 2400 nautical mile from the finish of the 5,500 mile race.

Powering northwards and taking advantage of fresh to strong winds on the edge of the now tropical storm, the biggest and fast yacht in the fleet, Sydney Hobart racer Chinese Whisper has now sailed past the majority of the fleet.

In hot pursuit of the 34-foot Morning Star, Chinese Whisper is almost twice as big at 62-feet LOA and the latest concept in ocean racing design.

Her crew of Sydney yachtsmen Rupert Henry and Greg O’Shea reported hitting 17 knots yesterday morning as she sailed to fifth place in fleet after being last to start, last Sunday, April 1.

The second Tasmanian yacht in the race, Force Eleven, sailed by Tristan Gourlay and Jamie Cooper, also from the Tamar Yacht Club, sought shelter in Southport on the eve of the start of Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.

Relaxing after a rough and wet ‘’four hundred miles on the nose’’ sail up the New South Wales Coast, the two Tasmanians agreed that the ORCV had made the right decision in advising yachts to head for port as Cyclone Ibis powered down the Queensland coast.

Words: Peter Campbell

Photos:  Ocean Racing Club of Tasmania

7 April 2018

Almost half the fleet in the 5,500 nautical mile yacht race from Melbourne to Osaka in Japan have sought shelter in ports along the south Queensland coast as reformed Cyclone Iris moves south.

Iris has become a Category 3, potentially category 4, cyclone with fierce winds and high seas off the Queensland coast between Bowen and Airlie Beach.

The yachts safely in port include the Tasmanian yacht Force Eleven sailed by Tristan Gourlay and Jamie Cooper.

The other Tasmanian yacht in the 19-boat fleet, Morning Star, sailed by Tasmanians Jo Breen and Peter Brooks, is well north of the critical cyclone area, still leading after the staggered start from Melbourne last month.

Of the 19 boats in the double-handed, non-stop race, nine have indicated they are heading for shelter, with six already in Southport. One boat is heading into Brisbane, another to Bundaberg.

Force Eleven, sailed by Tasmanians Tristan Gourlay and Jamie Cooper, is reported to be in Southport.  One boat had earlier put into Sydney to effect repairs.

In a safety warning message to the fleet, with the exception of Morning Star, The Edge and Bartolome which are well north of the critical cyclone activity area, the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria last evening said:

“Due to significant concerns about the forecast track and potential strength of the reformed cyclone Iris off the coast of Townsville, we require you to make appropriate plans to ensure your safety.”

Principal race director Simon Dryden said it was the ORCV’s “intention to continue racing as long as it is safe to do so” adding: “We have not taken this decision lightly, but our clear priority is competitor safety.”

The notice to competitors advised them regarding the rules of the race that would apply if they suspended racing, including customs implications if they berthed in an Australian port whilst competing in an international race.

Morning Star, an S&S 34, is the smallest and oldest boat in the fleet and as such was the first to start from Port Phillip on March 15.

This evening Morning Star was off the eastern tip of Papua New Guinea and north of the Solomon Islands, making 5.6 knots.

Since starting the little yacht has sailed almost 2500 nautical miles and 200 nm ahead of the second boat, The Edge, with a similar gap to the third yacht, Bartolome.

In a report to the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria today, Joe Breen reported from Morning Mist:

“Things have been going pretty well for us here on Morning Star, although we are certainly finding these latitudes difficult.

“In the last 24 hours we have been alternating between 10 knots and 30 knots of breeze right on the nose as the big squalls come through.

“They are easy enough to manage during the day, but picking the big clouds at night is sometimes a challenge, and we have got caught out a few times.

“I have lost count of how many times we have put reefs in and taken them out today! With our furling head sail we are also struggling for height in these conditions, and making relatively slow progress through the Solomon Sea.

“Knowing the rest of the fleet are now hunting us down makes this particularly frustrating, but we are trying to stay positive and focus on sailing in the conditions we have. Cheers, Jo,” the young Tasmanian added

Other yacht still racing include Allegro, Elektra, Utopia and the Chinese Whisper, the last boat to start last Sunday, 1 April, and which is still off the New South Wales Coast.

Allegro, fourth in fleet, off the Queensland coast, has advised race control that she is heading eastwards to avoid the cyclone.

Words and photos: Peter Campbell

3 April 2018

News

Contact

Contact Form
23 Marieville Esplanade, Sandy Bay TAS 7005
Privacy Policy
|
Site by Gloo
cross-circle