The victor (Zephyr) and the vanquished (Mr Beak’s Ribs) from last Saturday’s opening race of the Short Ocean Pointscore Series both scored wins in today’s second race.
In contrast to the opening race in which only three boats sailed the SOPS race correctly, all but one boat today completed the offshore course, racing for the Rubber Kellaway Trophy.
Under the Combined Clubs agreement, Middle Harbour Yacht Club conducted today’s race, sailed in conditions that varied from a 15-20 knot sou’wester at the start, fell away to 8-10 knots, before ending in an 19 knot sou’easterly. The late change in wind direction tended to favour the lower rating boats in Division 3.
Zephyr, James Connell and Alex Brandon’s Farr 1020 from the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, which won Division 3 IRC and PHS last Saturday, came out the winner again today in IRC, plus a 4th in PHS.
Mr Beak’s Ribs, David Beak’s Beneteau 44.7 which was disqualified after last week’s harbour race following a collision with a skiff, won both the IRC and PHS categories of Division 1 today.
In Division 1 IRC, Mr Beak’s Ribs scored a 14 second win on corrected time from About Time, Julian Farren-Price’s Cookson 12 and Blackadder, another Cookson 12, skippered by Stephen Thomas. In Division 1 PHS, the Beneteau 44.7 beat About Time by a more comfortable margin, 3rd going to Imagination, another Beneteau 44.7, owned by Anette & Robin Hawthorn.
Cool, Philip Odouard’s Beneteau First 30 which placed second to Zephyr last week, took first place today in Division 3 PHS. Second place went to the smallest boat in the fleet, Tom Cehak’s Farr 727 Therapy and Aurelia II (Norman & Thomas Longworth).
Today’s race was also the second Short Haul Division event for yachts that race without extras, with the bigger PHS category going to Cyril Latimer’s Brolga 33 Kurraka from John Keelty’s Cole 43 Electra, both classic older designs. Third place went to Mr Bojangles, Warren and William Grounds’ Northshore 38.
Under IRC, MRX, Jon Short & Miles Bastick’s Farr 34 MRX, took 1st place from Electra and John Walton’s Vivacite, a Beneteau 44.7.
Zephyr took out Division 3 IRC today from Brilliant, Howard and Susan Piggott’s Beneteau 34.7 and the classic Sparkman & Stephens 37 Stormy Petrel (Kevin O’Shea).
Results finalised for Race 1
Results have now been finalised for the Ocean Point Score (OPS) and Short Ocean Point Score (SOPS) opening race, sailed within the Harbour on Saturday 22 September, following a protest hearing and the retirement after race (RAF) of all but four of the competitors in both series.
Zephyr (James Connell and Alex Brandon) lodged the protest on the grounds that a number of boats had not sailed the correct alternative course in that, while they rounded the Shark Mark (SM) mark, they failed to round Shark Island (SI) itself.
In the OPS, results now posted on the CYCA website show Vanguard (Dick Cawse) the only finisher in the fleet.
In the SOPS, no finishers are listed in Division 1 and only two boats in Division 3. In Division 3, Zephyr has been placed first from Cool (Phil Odouard) under PHS results and is the only official finisher in IRC.
In a comment after the protest hearings, James Connell, co-owner of Zephyr, commented: “I am sorry for the chaos that our protest caused following last weekends SOPS race. I certainly take little pleasure in winning a race in this fashion but in the end I owe allegiance to my own crew, and given that we sailed the correct course I cannot justify being penalised for doing so. I think my crew are going to trade in their oilies for flak jackets and helmets before this weekend’s race…” – Peter Campbell
