With just two weeks to the start of the 60th anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race on Boxing Day, 26 December, two of the dozen Sydney 38 class yachts entered for the ocean classic were in winning form in today’s Rolex Trophy racing.
Both are newly launched Sydney 38s racing in the highly competitive one design class off Sydney Heads, with light winds continuing again today.
Middle Harbour Yacht Club member Gordon Ketelbey had his first regatta victory in race three with Zen, scoring a close 14 second victory from fellow MHYC member Peter McNamara in AMI Jade, the luckless loser of yesterday’s first race.
Third and fourth places went to two other Rolex Sydney Hobart Race entrants, Estate Master, owned by Martin and Lisa Hill, and Chutzpah, skippered by Hobart race veteran Bruce Taylor from the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria.
In race four veteran Victorian Lou Abrahams scored his first win with his new Challenge, finishing just 27 seconds ahead of Outlaw (Alan & Tom Quick), with third place going to Cydon (Leon Christianakis). Estate Master finished fourth but Zen was back in 8th place.
Overnight leader Cydon had a sixth, a third and a win in the final race today, maintaining top of the leaderboard from Estate Master which notched up a third and fourth and a seventh. Challenge maintained third place with an eighth, a win and fourth, while race three winner Zen followed this with an 8th and a 6th to be fourth in standings.
Sailing conditions today continued light and mostly from the east to south-east, with the strong running current and the big ebbing tide from Sydney Harbour affecting the course area.
Fortunately, unlike yesterday’s damaging three-boat mark rounding collision, there were no major incidents on the course today and the Sydney 38s managed clear starts.
Provisional placings in the Rolex Trophy Sydney 38 OD division after five races:
Cydon (Leon Christianakis, NSW) 1-2-6-3-1, 13 pts
Estate Master (Martin & Lisa Hill, NSW) 3-1-3-4-7, 18 pts
Challenge (Lou Abrahams, Vic) 5-3-8-1-4, 21 pts
Zen (Gordon Ketelbey, NSW) 9-5-1-8-6, 29 pts
AMI Jade (Peter McNamara, NSW) 11-13-2-5-2, 33 pts.
