In a fog ridden haze, Leslie Green’s Ginger, has scored a double victory in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Ocean Point Score Race 4 to Port Hacking return this afternoon, taking out line and IRC overall honours.
A casual entry in the race, the elegant Swan 601 was first out through Sydney Heads and first across the finish line at 3.22.28pm. Her closest opposition, Rod Wills’ Great Xpectations, finished over one hour later to claim third place overall. John Griffin’s well-sailed Beneteau 40, Bennie and the Jets, was second overall and won the PHS class overall.
In the top three IRC results, the timing was very close, with only five minutes separating the trio, who also finished top three in the PHS results overall, only the order changed, with Ginger second and Great Xpectations, an X-43 design, third.
However, the news story of the day revolves around the strange fog that came and went from Sydney Harbour all day. Offshore, the fog was so thick, according to Ginger’s sailing master and spokesman, Peter Bourke, “we couldn’t see a thing at times.”
Bourke said: “It was the most interesting race. We started mid-line and beat up the Harbour, and it was really difficult getting out of the Heads, because we had only 1 or 2 metres visibility when we got outside.
“Through the whole race, because of the fog, we saw only one other boat in our race. We were on our way back when we saw Nine Dragons and she was still heading up to the Port Hacking rounding mark.”
Bourke said finding the Port Hacking mark was a huge undertaking in itself: “Unless you had working sophisticated navigation equipment, you’d be lucky to find it. We could only see it from 100 metres away,” said Bourke who described the weather as “good for our boat.”
The Sydney yachtsman was talking about the variable nor’ easter that built from approximately 9 knots off the 10.00am start this morning, to 18 knots when Ginger finished. Once inside the Harbour, the winner encountered north-westerly winds and eased sheets to the finish line in Rushcutters Bay.
For those following Ginger home, the wind continued to increase and when the last yacht, Devils Lair finished, it had built to 25 knots.
Bad luck for Julian Farren-Price and his champion Cookson 12, About Time. They missed the rounding mark at Port Hacking, so retired from the race after crossing the finish line. A tough day with a tough ending.
At the Point Piper start this morning, the fog was most unusual; appeared and disappearing throughout most of the day, blanketing parts and all of Sydney Harbour at whim. It prompted Principal Race officer Denis Thompson to reveal; “When the yachts started, they just disappeared into the fog; it was quite eerie, and unusually, there was more breeze in the fog than out of it.”
Thompson added: “It was quite spectacular to watch the boats get their kites up, then disappear into the mist.” He said an 7-8 knot north-easterly at the start was freshening as the yachts got out of the starting blocks. Unable to see them, he upped anchor and followed the fleet to Sydney Heads, amidst the toots of ferries and other commercial traffic.
The Port Hacking Race was the fourth of the 10-race OPS series. The next event in the series is Middle Harbour Yacht Club’s Sydney Short Ocean Racing Championship, to be sailed on offshore courses over two days next weekend, 26-27 November.
For full race results and provisional Ocean Pointscore Series standings log on to: https://www.cyca.com.au/sysfile/downloads/2011-2012summer/2011-OPS/series.htm
By Di Pearson, CYCA Media
