Four CYCA boats were among the winners at Middle Harbour Yacht Club’s 2022 Sydney Harbour Regatta.
Competitors battled heavy rain, big gusts and limited visibility across the weekend, with the second day of racing taking place totally inshore due to the inclement conditions.
David Doherty’s TP52 Matador, Reg Lord’s J/70 Juno, Angus Ekberg’s Sea Change and Robert Kelly’s R/P 52 Virago all topped the podium in their respective divisions.
Matador swept all handicaps in the Super 50 division, winning four of the five races across the weekend.
Gordon Ketelbey’s Zen was second across the board, with Matt Donald and Chris Townsend’s Gweilo (IRC & ORCi) and Craig Neil’s Quest (TPR) also on the podium. Andy Kearnan and Peter Wrigley’s TP52 Koa was fifth in all divisions.
The regatta served as the opener to the new Australian TP52 Sailing Association’s inaugural pointscore, which will include five regattas from March to May.
NSW J/70 champion Reg Lord continued his good form with victory in the J/70 class.
Juno won all six races, with another CYCA boat – Tim Ryan’s Vamos – second overall.
Sea Change won the Performance Non-Spinnaker division on countback from Nathan Lockhart’s Scarborough.
A third-place finish in the final race proved enough for Ekberg and Sea Change to hold on for victory. Lockhart was the skipper and Ekberg crew on Navy One in the 2021 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
Six other CYCA boats featured in the Performance Non-Spinnaker class – Molon Labe (Larki Missiris), Jayargee (Richard Priestly), Soindika (Sean Ahern), Yputakiteup (Andrew Cox), Wild West (Paul Billingham and Pete McGee) and Marguerite (Paul Garai).
Virago scooped two wins and was on the podium in the other two to clinch victory on ORC and third place on PHS in the Performance Spinnaker Division 1.
John Amos’ Sydney 38 Utopia was third on ORC, with Sydney (Charles Curran), Erica (Peter Williams), Thirlmere (John Hodgkinson), Vamp (Donald Graham) and Gunshot (David Walsh) also in action in the division.
Matt Wilkinson’s Farr 30 Foreign Affair was third on ORC in Performance Spinnaker Division 2, while Rapid Transit (Andrew Wyllie, Beth Abbott and Michael McLean) was second on PHS in Performance Spinnaker Division 3.
Darryl Hodgkinson’s Carkeek 40 Victoire won the final race in the Super 40 class to finish second overall, as Thor (Matthew Hanning) was sixth.
M (Steve Hatch), Hector (Bertrand Philippe), Irukandji (Steve Nash/Paul Stubbs), Wilde Rush (Arthur Lane), Spirit (Geoffrey Hill), +GST (Andy Wharton), Accru (Kevin Nixon), Reo Speedwagon (Andrew York), and Roger That (David Ingram and Brad Hastings) were also on the water in a strong showing from CYCA boats.
