By Lisa Ratcliff, Sydney Harbour Regatta Media

Adrian Walters’ nippy Shaw 11 Little Nico, sailing for the Sydney Harbour Regatta host Middle Harbour Yacht Club (MHYC), added another victory to their impressive regatta tally on day two of the weekend regatta. Divisional winners in 2016 and second in 2019 and 2017, Little Nico’s domination of the short-course format is well and truly etched in the flagship series annals.

“Most of us have sailed together for a few years,” Walters said after racing. “This year we tried out some new sails and overall we are very happy with the result. Every year we seem to get better and better. The MC38s make us work hard though.” Walters has a busy program planned for Little Nico, including Sail Port Stephens in April and the northern regattas in Queensland’s Whitsunday Islands later in the year.

On the huge reunion that the 16^th annual Sydney Harbour Regatta afforded sailors from around the state, Walters adds, “It’s nice to see real people again after COVID. All the regattas going forward are going to have good participation; everyone’s keen to get out after a long break.”

Sydney Harbour Regatta is the state’s first major multi-club and multi-class regatta post-COVID restrictions, drawing 187 entries and 1,293 crew who completed 84 races across seven course areas thanks to MHYC, the eight supporting clubs and 87 wonderful volunteers. Amazingly, there were only two protests.

Day two video highlights thanks to Tilly Lock Media.

Results for all Divisions are available here.

Open IRC Division winner Khaleesi (MHYC) quashed the two Pittwater crews who usually duel for the top spot. Rob Aldis’ DK46 managed four corrected time firsts from six starts, out-sailing Gerry Hatton’s Mat 1245 Bushranger and Keiran Mulcahy’s King 40 Soozal, both from the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club. On ORCi results, Bushranger beat Khaleesi by half a point.

“I’ve been associated with Middle Harbour Yacht Club for a long time, and I’m so pleased for the club to see all this camaraderie and confidence. This regatta has a sense of normalcy about it,” said Aldis dockside. “Owning the DK is a good learning experience for me, I came to the sport fairly late,” he added.

The Sydney 38 state trophy went to David Hudson and Peter Byford’s Pittwater-based Conspiracy (RPAYC) from a hot fleet. Points from six windward/leeward races offshore, the first three in cool south-easterlies then warm north-easterlies off Manly beach to close out the pointscore, saw Conspiracy relegate the local favourite, Peter Sorensen’s Advanced Philosophy (MHYC), to second overall.

International J/70 NSW championship winner Reg Lord and his Juno crew (CYCA) kept their challengers at bay with five wins from six starts. International Yngling NSW champion Hamish Jarrett went one better, achieving the picket fence of six bullets with his Miss Pibb crew (RSYS).

Performance spinnaker and non-spinnaker fleets wrapped up their four-race series with two passage races around harbour islands and other marks. A third for Russell Waddy’s Sydney 38 cruiser Allsail Another Challenge (RPAYC/RMYC) in the final Division 1 race was enough to leapfrog Steve Hatch’s M, a Sydney 36 cruiser/racer out of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.

Ray Parrott and his Drummoyne Sailing Club (DSC) X332 X-Ray successfully defended their 2020 Performance Spinnaker Division 2 win while in Performance Non-Spinnaker, MHYC boat Pearl 2, owned by Michael Twomey, added another host club Division victory.

DSC-based Flying Tiger Ophir, skippered by Bruce Taverner, won the Super 30 Division from Foreign Affair.

All Divisional placegetters are invited to gather at MHYC this evening to be recognised at the official trophy presentation and go in the running for the Grand Prize Draw of:

• First place draw – Sail Racing merchandise voucher (value $2,000)
• Second place draw – Manly Spirits Co. Distillery experience for yacht crew (up to 12 persons)
• Third place draw – Mercedes-Benz North Shore and Mercure Resort Hunter Valley Gardens have made available a Mercedes weekend drive experience plus two nights’ accommodation at the Mercure Resort Hunter Valley Gardens for two people.

MHYC acknowledges the support of key Sydney Harbour Regatta sponsors and supporters and also thanks all race management volunteers plus partner clubs Manly Yacht Club, Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club, Royal Australian Navy Sailing Association, Sydney Flying Squadron, Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron and Sydney Amateur Sailing Club.

By CYCA

CYCA is a long-term supporter of the Sydney Harbour Regatta, and many Members participated in the two-day event. In addition to those mentioned above, the following Members also found success over the weekend.

In the Performance Spinnaker Division, Jiang Lin’s X 43 Min River took out the Division 1 ORCi handicap victory, while Andrew Wyllie’s GP26 Rapid Transit claimed the Division 3 PHS crown.

Steve Hatch’s M claimed the Sydney 36 EHC and IRC handicaps.

The Super 40 Division IRC handicap victory was claimed by Darryl Hodgkinson’s Carkeek 40 Victoire.

In the TP52 class, both IRC and ORCi handicaps were won by Craig Neil’s Quest.

Congratulations to all Members who won their divisions and who competed!

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