CYCA boats won two divisions and figured in the top three placings in seven other divisions of the huge Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta sailed over the weekend.

The 25-knot southerly with rough water on the Harbour caused by wind against tide provided hard sailing conditions – and some dramas – on Saturday but Sunday’s races were sailed in a perfect conditions with a 10-15 knot breeze that backed from the south to the south-east.

On Saturday, one boat ran on the rocks in Rose Bay, there were many spectacular wipe-outs, and Bob Steel’s TP52 Quest was forced to retire in race one when the starboard liferails became loose and the pulpit came adrift.

A fleet of 267 yachts from Sydney, Pittwater, Botany Bay and Newcastle clubs, plus a couple of Melbourne boats, contested the regatta which catered for for virtually every keelboat class that regularly races in Sydney.

The CYCA’s Treasurer Paul Bellingham won the PHS White (non-spinnaker) division with his Bavaria 41 Elusive, scoring two first firsts over the weekend.

Greg Mason’s Davidson 37 Custom Sinewave won a hard-fought PHS Division 3 from fellow CYCA member Matt Wilkinson’s MASRM 920 Out of Sight. Only one point separated the two boats going into the final race on Sunday, but while Out of Sight got the gun it placed fifth on corrected time, while Sinewave had the reverse result – fifth to finish but first on corrected time. Sinewave finished with 16 points from a score of 7-4-4-1, Out of Sight with 19 points from placings of 4-5-5-5.

IRC Division 1 saw a great duel over six races between Bob Oatley’s Reichel/Pugh 66 Wild Oats XI from the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club and CYCA member Geoff Ross’ Reichel/Pugh 55 Yendys.

After the heavy weather racing on Saturday, Yendys narrowly headed the scoring with 2-3-2 results to Wild Oats X’s 2-2-4 on corrected time. On Sunday, Wild Oats X won the first two races while Yendys finished fifth in both heats.

Yendys won the final race but Wild Oats X’s third place was sufficient to give the 66-footer a four point advantage.

Bob Steel’s Quest was one of the casualties in the heavy conditions on Saturday, with the pulpit carrying away, forcing her to retire from race one and miss the next two races.  Back on Sunday, Quest had two fourth places. 

In IRC Division 3, Anthony Dunn’s Sydney 36CR Equinox finished second to Middle Harbour Yacht Club’s Peter Sorensen’s The Philosopher’s Club, also a Sydney 36CR. Out of the six races sailed, Sorenson won four, placing The Philosopher’s Club in a strong position in the Audi IRC National Championship.

The Philosopher’s Club was co-leader of the Championship coming into this series.

Nick Kingsmill’s Vincero was another CYCA placegetter,  finished second to Bushfire (Jervis Tilly) in the strong Etchells fleet.  Vincero won two of the six races but was not quite as consistent as Bushfire.

A win in the final race gave Doug Sturrock second overall in the Classic division with his Townson N2 design, Windflyt.  First place overall went to the 98-year-old Weene, skippered by Ben Stoner from Sydney Amateur Sailing Club.  Weene is a Tasmanian One Design, built in Hobart in 1910 and, by far, the oldest boat in the regatta.

Commodore of the host club, MHYC’s Martin Hill, took out the strong PHS Division 1 with his Farr 40 Estate Master after a close duel with the CYCA’s Rum Jungle, Scott Russell’s Swarbrick 40.  

A 15th in the opening race proved costly for Rum Jungle, with Russell following this with placings of 5-2-1 against Estate Master’s overall score of 9-2-3-6.  The margin at the finish was three points.

In the Sydney 32 division, Andy Kearnan’s Wirrajurnd finished 3rd overall after being an OCS in the last of five races sailed. 

The Sydney 38 division, with a number of CYCA Youth Sailing Academy sailors amongst the crews, ended in a protest and disqualification of the provisional winner,  Rush, skippered by Cameron Miles, from Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club.

As a result the protesting boat, Transfusion, skippered by Guido Belgiorno-Nettis from MHYC, moved up to first place, the CYCA’s The Tavern (Shane Guanaria) and Limit (Alan Brierty) to second and third respectively. – Peter Campbell