It was father’s day on Mother’s Day for Hobart yachtsman Angus Sprott today when he and his teenage son Fynn sailed Sea Temple to their second win of the Derwent Sailing Squadron’s Autumn Short-Handed Series on the River Derwent.
Angus, a former Commodore of Sandy Bay Sailing Club and offshore sailors, owns Sea Temple, a Beneteau Oceanis 440, while Fynn is a 29er skiff sailor.
With two firsts and a second so far in the five-race series, Sea Temple leads Division 4 (non-spinnaker, two-handed) from Dynamo, sailed by husband-and-wife team, Steve and Trina Davidson.
“We were lucky today to get a race in with drifting conditions just prior to the start and no sign of the predicted westerly wind, DSS sailing manager Peter Watson said after the race.
“RO Gilbert Leitch held his nerve and sent the skippers and Crews away in the remnants of a quickly dying katabatic northerly and luckily a down river ebbing tide towards the X mark halfway between the Castray start and Nutgrove Beach.
“It looked likely some of the crews were going to be late for their respective Mother’s Day luncheons. Fortuitously, however, a light southerly wind developed, allowing yachts to pick up their sheets and complete the course.”
Of the 43 boats entered for the Derwent Boat Sails Autumn Short Handed Series, 31 sailed today.
International ocean racing sailor Jo Breen kept up the winning run of women sailors in the Autumn Short-Handed Series when she steered David Aplin’s MBD36, Whistler, to victory in Division 1 (three-handed, spinnakers).
Early next month Jo will skipper a Tasmanian team in the Australian Women’s Keelboat Championship on Melbourne’s Port Phillip.
While Jo the only woman to steer a winning yacht on Mother’s Day, other women crewed on top-placed boats in the other divisions.
Trina Davidson placed third with husband Steve, sailing Dynamo in Division 4; Cassandra Olive finished third in Division 3, sailing two-up on Michael Hutchinson’s Emotional Rescue; and Felicity Allison and Jill Abel, teaming up on the SB20, Cook Your Own Dinner to place third in Division 5.
Fang to the Max, sailed by Fred Barrett and John Wearne, scored its third consecutive win in Division 2 (two-handed, spinnaker) while other winners were Jigsaw (Scott Morrison and Rob Watchorn) in Division 3 (two-handed, non-spinnaker) and Airie Westland’s Zest in Division 5 (two-handed, spinnaker).
Words: Peter Campbell
Photos: Peter Watson
11 May 2019
