1315 HRS
After a good start in a 10-12kt freshening breeze clocking NNE to NE, the fleet of 40 boats had raced to the Heads in an outgoing tide before turning right and heading down the coast.
Whisper was first out and ran the rhumb line most of the journey south after a long gybe in to the shore near Wattamolla/Curracurrang. Hitting speeds of over 16kts, she slowly pulled clear of Ichi Ban.
The other TPs largely stayed inside, with the exception of Zen who went out looking for breeze & made good ground on everyone before coming back in to join the group. There had been numerous changes in the chasing pack’s order over the three hours with the Cookson 50, Sticky, staying close.
The rest of the fleet tested the breeze further offshore.
In the Two-Handed Division, Salt Shaker and Disko Trooper_Defender Sailcloth were in a close-fought battle, half a mile ahead of Rum Rebellion and Speedwell. Local Hero and Crux were not far behind.
1515 HRS
Eleven boats had already rounded Flinders Islet (off Port Kembla) and were beating back to Sydney in an 18-20kt NE. Whisper was leading the pack off Scarborough; the TP52s hugging the coastline in pursuit.
In IRC (Fully-Crewed), Wings was slightly ahead of Blink and XS Moment. In IRC (Two-Handed), Disko Trooper_Defender Sailcloth led Salt Shaker and Speedwell.
1715 HRS
With Whisper passing Bundeena and the fleet stretched to Wollongong with all bar the smallest boat Gun Runner ’round the Islet, it looked like a pretty hard slog home in 20-25kts breeze which was forecast to lighten later in the evening.
Not much had changed at the pointy end of the fleet but Philosopher, Supernova and Ariel now led IRC (Fully-Crewed) and Rum Rebellion had overtaken Speedwell to hold down third position in IRC (Two-Handed).
1928 HRS
David Griffith & the crew of the Judel Vrolijk 62 Whisper secured Line Honours (Fully-Crewed) in the first race of the 2021/22 Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore. In almost 9 1/2 hours, Whisper averaged 9.5kts in the varying conditions. This time was almost two hours outside the race record of 7:30:19.
2047 HRS
Rounding out places 2 – 8 in Line Honours (Fully-Crewed) were the seven 52s: Ichi Ban, Gweilo, Matador, Celestial, Zen, Smuggler and Quest.
Their order of finishing in IRC (Fully-Crewed) was: Ichi Ban, Matador, Gweilo, Zen, Smuggler, Celestial and Quest.
There was not much between them in the end and the crews were at each other all day in what’s shaping up to be a fascinating Summer of racing.
2315 HRS
Richard Harris’ Cookson 50 Sticky had come in 9th on Line Honours (Fully-Crewed) and a further nine boats in the Fully-Crewed divisions are within 10NM of the finish line.
The smallest boat, Gun Runner is off Corrimal with over 35NM to complete.
With all boats still on the racetrack now unlikely to challenge the IRC (Fully-Crewed) leaderboard, Whisper has taken the double this year. Congratulations!
All six of the Two-Handed boats are currently within 8NM of each other just south of Botany Bay. It will be an exciting few hours to see how they finish up.
