The wind came out to play for the final race of the 2024/25 Network Marine Insurance Monday Twilight Series on Sydney Harbour.
The sun was out for the final 2024/25 Monday twilight race. Credit – Eric Blake
South, south-westerly winds with gusts up to 25-knots were well suited to Karl Onslow’s Ciao Bella. In the Monday twilight race, the Hanse 505 placed first on PHS in Division 1, ahead of Michael Selby’s X412 Cyrene 3 in second place and Darryl Hodgkinson’s Carkeek 40 Victoire in third place. The first five yachts in Division 1 finished within one-minute forty of each other on corrected time, a testament to all of the talented sailors on the racecourse.
“Great crew work and keeping it simple in the heavy breeze by goose winging the jib to the downwind mark and working the lifts to the top mark gave us a third on Line Honours behind Victoire and Ginger,” Onslow said. “It was nice for team Ciao Bella to finish the summer series with a couple of wins.”
Ciao Bella powering upwind. Credit – Eric Blake
But it was David Davies’ BH 36 Local Hero (which did not race yesterday) that came away with the Overall series win on PHS in Division 1. Just three-points behind them in second place was Phil Herscovics’ Sydney 38 Shine On – Team Callendina, and in third place was Greg Mason’s Davidson 37 Sine Wave.
On Local Hero’s win, Davies said: “[Monday Twilights] are a great short course format that is a lot of fun and really tests the crews. We thoroughly enjoyed the close competition with Indi, Shine On and Sine Wave.”
Yesterday, in Division 2 on PHS, Michael Curtin’s Beneteau Oceanis 40.1 LunaSea came out on top ahead of Shane Diethelm’s Etchells Sumatra in second place and David Aylward’s Beneteau First 36.7 MyWay in third place.
LunaSea placed first on PHS in Division 2 in yesterday’s race. Credit – Eric Blake
However, it was John Anet’s Archambault 31 Precision that placed first on PHS in Division 2 for the Overall series pointscore win. In second place was David O’Loughlin’s J/99 Sienna and in third place was George Waldthausen’s Cavalier 350SL Superfine.
It was the lethally fast Victoire that landed on top for the Overall series IRC win, ahead of Local Hero in second place and Noel Cornish’s Farr 40 Indi in third place.
Ginger was second to cross the finish line in yesterday’s race. Credit – Eric Blake
“Victoire outclassed us all in the IRC pointscore but we were pretty happy to be able to keep Indi behind us to come second,” Davies said.
Congratulations to all of the competitors in the 2024/25 Network Marine Insurance Monday Twilight Series. We look forward to seeing you all for some more spinnaker fun for the 2025/26 series later this year.
