After fourteen consecutive days of rain, the sun shone for the second day in a row with a fleet of 123 yachts competing in Race 3 of the Audi Winter Series. Moderate sea breezes greeted the fleet on the start line and continued to build over the course of the afternoon.

With strong breezes, the team aboard Sailors with disAbilities, skippered by David Pescud, continued their excellent start to the Audi Winter Series with a win in Division A.

“We’ve got a great team with some experienced crew members who have sailed in the Rolex Sydney Hobart and some new members for this series. I am very pleased with how the crew are working,” said David Pescud.

“With the wind conditions today, it was ideal for our boat – sail changes that were required were executed by the crew flawlessly. I am excited about the outcome of the last two races and am looking forward to the rest of the Audi Winter Series. The treachery of the winter series is yet to unfold but we are ready for the challenge.” added David.

Other place getters in Division A were Bob Steel’s Quest second and Dick Cawse’s Vanguard third.

In Division B, Sintara owned by Gordon Anderson placed first, Stomp second and Playstation 3 third.

In Division E, Krakatoa placed first, with Shere Khan second and Tojo never made it to Darwin third.

Neil Hamilton, skipper of Balmain Tiger, reports on Division E’s race.

“Don Young’s Krakatoa crew lead from start to finish and showed what can be done with a good start and a desire to carry a spinnaker when most of the other crews thought that white sails made more sense.

Shere Khan the newest of the growing Tiger fleet, recovered  from a bad start to do a great job during the first down wind leg easily tying up second place. Tojo never really looked like catching the leaders but covered the rest of the fleet with a great third place despite a huge wine glass spin run to LM4. 

Bitter and Twisted showed that she will be a force to be reckoned with, providing a clean pair of heels to other two Mumm 30’s. Greengate and Max both went well off the wind but struggled against the bigger boats up hill.

It was never going to be the day for the back markers so The Business and Zippier had to be satisfied with fighting it out at the at the rear of the field. Diana was well placed until she had trouble recovering her kite at BH mark, resulting in an unplanned lap of Shark Island. 

Ophir decided to shorten the down wind leg to Steel Point by leaving EC2 to Port, before doing a 26 min detour to ensure she sailed the proper course, well done guys.  Balmain Tiger being accustomed to following Ophir in close pursuit sailed on ignorant of the short cut, and RTF was her only option.”

Other division winners were Gerard Kesby’s Nocturne (Division C), Murray Hayward’s Irukandji (Division D), Phil Kin’s Salona (Division F), Brian Carrick’s  Velocity (Division G), Andrew & David Lukas’ Racy Lady (Division H), Panacea skippered by Adrian Dunphy (Division J) and Brian Clayton’s Quetzal (Division K) and Gordon Ketelby’s Zen (Sydney 38’s). – Jennifer Crooks