| Leaders battle for handicap honours |
| By CYCA Event Media. |
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| Photos and edited by Peter Andrews. |
| 08:00 AEDT, March 20,
2010. |
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| This morning at
7.30am, Bob Oatley‘s line honours chaser Wild Oats
XI was sailing off Cabbage Tree Island, with an estimated
time of arrival at the finish line of the Audi Sydney Offshore
Newcastle Yacht Race of 10.00am. Arrival at that time ensures
that Stephen Ainsworth‘s race record of 15 hours 57 minutes
53 seconds set with Loki last year, remains safe for
another year. |
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Bob Oatley’s 100ft Wild Oats XI, lead the fleet out of Sydney Harbour after the start of the Audi Sydney Offshore Newcastle Yacht Race 2010.
Photo © Peter Andrews, Outimage.
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| Skippered by Mark
Richards, Wild
Oats XI was making
11 knots in around 10 knots of northerly breeze at 1.40am
this morning and was 15 nautical miles east of Smiths Lake
with another 95 nautical miles still left to race. |
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Stephen Ainsworth’s Loki approaching the heads after the start of the Audi Sydney Offshore Newcastle Yacht Race 2010, holds the current race record.
Photo © Peter Andrews, Outimage.
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Peter Millard‘s
well positioned Lahana from Queensland was surprisingly
keeping her larger contemporary within corralling distance.
Through the night, Lahana was
just 8 nautical miles off the leader‘s
transom and travelling at the same speed.
Loki has also enjoyed some great sailing overnight with renowned yachtsman
Gordon Maguire at the helm and has also kept up the pace to maintain third
place. |
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Peter Millard / John Honan’s Lahana, after the start of the Audi Sydney Offshore Newcastle Yacht Race 2010.
Photo © Peter Andrews, Outimage.
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| Wild Oats
XI rounded the Crowdy Head turning mark at 3.59am this
morning and at 7.15am, she was making 9.2 knots of boat
speed with 43 nautical miles to go to the finish line on
the Hunter River in Newcastle. |
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Phil Arnell‘s Farr 40 Anger Management is currently 16th overall under IRC, in the Audi Sydney Offshore Newcastle Yacht Race.
Photo © Peter Andrews, Outimage.
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Lahana eventually
dropped back to 15 nautical miles behind the leader and was
making 18 knots near Crowdy Head earlier this morning.
Shortly after 7.00am, Lahana was
east of Cabbage Tree Island heading back towards the coast
after sailing a little further out to sea. Loki was
16 nautical miles astern of Lahana just after 7.00am.
"We haven‘t seen anyone all night," said Michael Bellingham reporting
from the Ainsworth‘s Reichel Pugh 63. "We just went around the mark and it is
nice to still have some breeze, around 12 knots with plenty of set and calm seas.
We had a good night sailing, everyone is enthusiastic, looking for the breeze
to stay in," added
Bellingham who predicted they would cross the finish line around 2.00pm today. |
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Peter Millard / John Honan’s Lahana, after the start of the Audi Sydney Offshore Newcastle Yacht Race 2010.
Photo © Peter Andrews, Outimage.
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| In the handicap
stakes, David Beak‘s Beneteau First 44.7, Mr Beaks
Ribs from New South Wales leads the race overall under
IRC; from Geoff Ross‘ Reichel
Pugh 55 Yendys with gun sailor Chris Nicholson skippering,
and Stephen Ainsworth‘s Loki in third.
Ed Psaltis and Bob Thomas‘ AFR Midnight Rambler, which is currently
in fourth place overall, is in the race to win the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia‘s
2009-2010 Blue Water Pointscore, which will be decided at the end of this race. |
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David Beak‘s Beneteau First 44.7, Mr Beaks Ribs from New South Wales currently leads the race overall under IRC, pictured at the start of the Audi Sydney Offshore Newcastle Yacht Race.
Photo © Peter Andrews, Outimage.
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Psaltis and Thomas are placed first in Division 2 and also lead under the new ORCi rule from Steven Proud‘s Sydney 38 Swish and Syd Fischer‘s TP52
Ragamuffin, all from New South Wales. Currently running second in Division 2 is David Beak.
Navigator Will Oxley reported from Yendys at 7.40am: "We should finish around 3.30pm. We had good conditions overnight and a nice tactical battle with our opposition. Loki is inshore of us and the fiftys‘ are offshore," he said, referring to Quest and Ragamuffin, which are in a battle of their own. |
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Ed Psaltis and Bob Thomas’ modified Farr 40 AFR Midnight Rambler, after the start of the Audi Sydney Offshore Newcastle Yacht Race 2010.
Photo © Peter Andrews, Outimage.
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"The current is making life very interesting! This is actually a great racetrack, and having the mark offshore like this has opened up a lot more tactical options. Good job CYCA," an eager Oxley commented.
Fischer is aiming at winning his 10th Blue Water Point Score, awarded to the top IRC yacht in the series, but he needs to beat Quest and AFR Midnight Rambler which are only one and two points behind him respectively. However, both are in front of him this morning, with Bob Steel‘s TP52 Quest from New South Wales is in 12th overall, Ragamuffin just one place behind. |
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Geoff Ross’ Reichel / Pugh 55 Yendys, after the start of the Audi Sydney Offshore Newcastle Yacht Race 2010.
Photo © Peter Andrews, Outimage.
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Of the two Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club entries, Phil Arnell‘s Farr 40 Anger Management is 16th overall under IRC and Kym Butler‘s Northshore 37 One for the Road is second overall in PHS. Leading PHS division is Bruce Dover‘s EZ Street from New South Wales, after an inauspicious start on Sydney Harbour yesterday.
Niven James‘ Phillips-Simpson 11.7 Menace from Lake Macquarie, is 18th overall in the 24-boat fleet; after falling into a hole from sailing too close to the coast with Tony Kirby‘s Patrice Six and John
Taylor‘s Allegro, both from New South Wales. |
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Niven James‘ Phillips-Simpson 11.7 Menace from Lake Macquarie, after the start of the Audi Sydney Offshore Newcastle Yacht Race.
Photo © Peter Andrews, Outimage.
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| Howard de Torres‘ Nips-N-Tux is
the only retirement from the 213 nautical mile race, after
tearing her mainsail at around 1.00am this morning. At the
time she was off Newcastle, so a decision was made to head
straight to the Hunter River and onto the Newcastle Cruising
Yacht Club to end their race. |
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Howard de Torres‘ Nips-N-Tux is the only retirement from the 213 nautical mile Audi Sydney Offshore Newcastle Yacht Race, after tearing her mainsail.
Photo © Peter Andrews, Outimage.
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The Audi Sydney Offshore Newcastle Yacht Race, organised by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, started yesterday on Sydney Harbour and is the final race of the Blue Water Pointscore and the Tasman Series for the PHS trophy.
Follow the fleet via the official race website http://sydneynewcastle.cyca.com.au or on Twitter http://twitter.com/asonyr. |
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| Outimage and
CYCA © 2010 |
