The SB20 International fleet is on notice following an impressive silver-medal performance from Tasmanian crew Brett Cooper, Darren ‘Twirler’ Jones and Jock Calvert, sailing the chartered boat Aeolus in the French Cup championship at Hyeres, near Marsaille.
The failure of the breeze to fill in until early afternoon dashed Cooper’s hopes of three races on the final day and a chance to regain the lead from British champion John Pollard sailing Xcellent.
The Tasmanians, representing the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania and the Derwent Sailing Squadon finished second on 25 points, finishing with a third in race eight and a fifth in race nine, with the French Cup going to Pollard and his crew of Jack Wetherell and Steve Proctor on a net 20 points.
Pollard had a win and a seventh on the last day for a regatta scoreboard of 2-1-(BFD)-3-2-2-1-1-7 while Cooper’s placings were 1-2-1-(6)-6-4-3-3-5.
Third place went to French youth sailor, Robin Follin. Follin (Give Me Five FFV Youth) on 35 points.
The French Nationals is one of two lead-up events sailed prior to the World Championship in October, also at Hyeres. While it was a good opportunity for training, the 25-boat fleet will have a lot more action on the start line when they face off in the Worlds with a fleet of close to 80 boats from six nations expected.
“The purpose of these warm-up regattas is not only to get to know Hyeres better but to get a few extra days together with each team to work on areas where they need improvement, and with the dependability of the Hyeres winds, this regatta has been an excellent training run for all,” said Ed Russo, President of the SB20 Class World Council.
And this was certainly the feedback from Australian Jock Calvert who is sailing with the Aeolus team for the first time in an international event. “As a team of three, we’ve only sailed together a handful of times. It’s been a good challenge to move forward into the bow position, and it’s taken me a bit of time to master it. The boys have been great and we’re all starting to really sync up and get our processes and teamwork humming,” said Calvert.
SB20 Australian President Stephen Catchpool was equally impressed with Cooper’s performance noting the limited opportunities the Australians have to compete against the international SB20 fleet.
“I’m very excited to see Brett [Cooper} and his crew do so well in the French Nationals. Brett, along with our other Australian entries Porco Rosso (Elliott Noye), The Imp (Andrew Smith) and Essence of Athena (Anna Reid), will be a formidable presence in the Worlds. Noye has already showed his class in Portugal and Ireland and definitely has his eye on the prize in Hyeres,” said Catchpool.
The French Grand Slam will be held 4-6 October and the Worlds from 19-25 October 2019.
Words: Jane Austin SB20AusMedia/Peter Campbell
Photos: courtesy of SB20 Class President,
16 September 2019
Steve Harrison and his crew are members of Australia’s southernmost sailing club, Port Esperence Sailing Club at Dover in southern Tasmania and for five weekends during Tasmania’s chilly winter they have driven from Dover to Hobart to sail Temptation in the Derwent Sailing Squadron’s Winter Series.
And four times they have gone home winners of Division 2, including today.
In winning its fourth race of the Battery World Winter Series, Temptation, a Thomson 7, clinched overall victory with a mere nine seconds on corrected time to from Young Magic (Peter Farley). In its maiden race, Mark Ballard’s latest 42 South, placed third.
After discarding its race two result, a second, Temptation finished with a net 4 points in Division 2. Second overall went to Neil Snare’s Winstead Wines on 10 points, third to the team- owned Wildfire on 17 points.
“We had sublime conditions for the final race of the Winter Series, sunny skies, a relatively warm day with light and variable winds before the start giving way to a sparkling west-north-westerly breeze of 12-15 knots,” DSS sailing manager Peter Watson said.
The five Farr 40s in Division 1 enjoyed “champagne sailing”, according to Watson, with Rolex 75th Sydney Hobart Yacht Race entrant 2Unlimited (Greg Prescott) clinching the Division 1 trophy with a second place to Wargames (Wayne Banks-Smith) with an overall net score of 7 points.
Hughie Lewis and Gary Cripps’ Guilty Pleasures VI came in third in the final race to take second overall on 9 points, with Peregrine (David Stephenson) third on 12 points.
A final race win clinched Division 3 for Motley (Stephan Lubach) by two points from Groove, skippered by recently elected DSS Rear Commodore Will Justo) with Serenity (Graham Hall) third overall on a countback..
Words: Peter Campbell
Photos: Peter Watson
15 September 2019
Champion young Hobart keelboat helmsman Sam Tiedemann last evening was named 2018-19 Tasmanian Male Sailor of the Year, culminating a remarkable season of yacht racing.
(more…)Champion Hobart yacht Philosopher this week became the eleventh Tasmanian entrant for this year’s 75th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
It is the biggest contingent from the state since the 50th edition of the bluewater classic in 1995, with the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia announcing this week it had already received more than 100 entries.
Expectations are for a fleet of close to 150 Australian and international yachts lining up on Sydney Harbour for the 75th start on Boxing Day, 26 December.
Tasmanian entries received this past week have been Shaun Tiedemann’s Philosopher, David Aplin and Joanna Breen’s Runaway and Ed Psaltis’ Midnight Rambler.
Since being bought by Tiedemann, Philosopher, a modified Sydney 36CR, has won the Maria Island, Bruny Island and Launceston to Hobart ocean races and the Combined Clubs IRC championships in southern Tasmania.
Tiedemann and his young crew have also sailed Philosopher to an IRC division win at the Australian Yachting Championships on Melbourne’s Port Phillip
With the Australian Yachting Championships in Hobart in January, Tiedemann and his youthful crew, are looking for a hat-trick.
“This is the boat’s first Sydney Hobart, as it is mine,” said Tiedemann, who is manager of the Derwent Sailing Squadron.
“Having spent my life working on the water (fishing, aquaculture and marine survey) it's never really be an aspiration to spend my recreation time on the water - so to speak.
“The Philosopher thing has been about going sailing with Sam and his mates - it's fun. The crew want to go - so that means so do I…I guess.”
Tiedemann said the crew for the 75th Sydney Hobart would be much the
same that have sailed with us since heow got the boat.
“We will race the Hobart with nine crew. Only t of us haven't done the race. Most notably joining the crew are Andrew Smith (Willie Smith Cider) with 14 Hobarts and Andrew Davison (seven Hobarts).
“They will complement and bring offshore experience to the young guys who have without doubt shown they can sail the boat to its potential over short and long races.
“Our goals are simple: safely finish the race, be competitive in our division - and have fun. The Philosopher is far from a rock star boat but with a Formula 1 crew we have regularly shown we can bat above our weight,” added Tiedemann,
Fellow DSS members David Aplin and Jo Breen have recently bought Team Runaway, a Sayer 11, specifically for two-handed ocean racing, but will contest the 75th Sydney Hobart as a fully-crewed entry.
They are looking forward to 2020 when the CYCA has announced it will accept two-handed entries for the big race.
Ed Psaltis has re-located to southern Tasmania this year and, in his first local series, sailed Midnight Rambler, a Sydney 36, to victory in the Derwent Sailing Squadron’s Autumn Short-Handed Series.
The veteran of 37 Sydney Hobarts, Psaltis won the storm-swept 1998 Sydney Hobart in his smaller Hick designed boat, also named Midnight Rambler.
Other Tasmanian yachts so far entered are Oskana, Mike Pritchard’s Cookson 50; Black Sheep, Matthew Pilkington’s Beneteau First 45; 2Unlimited, Greg Prescott’s Farr 40mod; Filepro, Tim Gadsby’s Lyons 40; Magic Miles, Michael Crew’s Dynamique 62; Natelle Two, Laura Roper’s Peterson 41; Van Diemen III, Robert Vaughan’s Muir 64; Windrose, Ashok Mani’s S&S48.
Words: Peter Campbell
Photos: Peter Watson
27 July 2019
The high-performance Farr 40s are back racing as a fleet on the river, with five of the big boats entered in the Derwent Sailing Squadron/Battery World Winter Series which opened today.
For the first time in several years, the Farr 40s had their own class and today they enjoyed extremely close and competitive racing with the first three boats swapping the lead throughout the Sunday morning race.
Race officer Neil Harris sent the Farr 40s to the B1 mark and then to the permanent Garrow Light, allowing the big sloops to ‘stretch their legs’ and generate plenty of momentum in the light breeze.
Sydney Hobart entrant, 2Unlimited (Greg Prescott) took the honours in the end from Guilty Pleasures VI (Lewis and Cripps) and Peregrine (David Stephenson).
Also racing was Graeme Wood’s Kirribilli, recently relocated from Sydney with Wood on the helm.
Competition can only get better with the scratch boat Wargames (Wayne Banks-Smith) due to join the fleet for race two of the DSS Winter Series on 14 July.
“If there is such a phenonium as the perfect winter race day, then today would have to be included…sunny skies, light katabatic northerly breeze and superb racing,” commented DSS sailing operations manager Peter Watson.
While the Farr 40s in Division 1 raced their longer course, Divisions 2 and 3 enjoyed competitive racing with windward/leeward courses between Castray and Nutgrove.
Steve Harrison’s sports boat Temptation scored a narrow win on corrected time in Division 2, with line honours winner Winstead Wines (Neil Snare) second and Wildfire (Team Wildfire) third.
Will Justo’s Groove had an outright win in Division 3, taking first place on handicap from Motley (Stephan Lubach) and Serenity (Graham Hall).
Words: Peter Campbell & Peter Watson
Photos: Peter Watson
23 June 2019
Joanna (‘Jo’) Breen has led her team aboard Chutzpah38 to a fighting third overall in the premier AMS division of the Australian Women’s Keelboat Regatta on Melbourne’s Port Phillip.
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