Salt water action in SSORC
29 November 2008 |
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| By Lisa Ratcliff - On Course Communications |
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There was plenty of salt water action today as the Sydney Short Ocean Racing Championship fleet took to their Sydney Harbour and offshore courses for the 31st Championship hosted by Middle Harbour Yacht Club.
The combined fleet of 101 split between windward / leeward races offshore, a 17 mile passage race to Long Reef and a Seven Islands Race within Sydney Harbour. |
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Peter Sorensen's Sydney 36CR The
Philosophers Club, out to sea after the start
of the Sydney to Gold Coast Yacht Race earlier this
year, is competing
in the IRC Racer - Windward / Leeward Offshore Course
of the Sydney Short Ocean
Racing Championships.
Photo © Peter Andrews.
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Conditions for day one of the two-day Championship were fluky with plenty of south to south east puff out of Rose Bay for the passage race start at midday, while the IRC fleets offshore found themselves languishing in an uncomfortable chop and an easing breeze that was clocking left then right midway through race 2. The southerly built back up to a respectable 15 knots during the closing stages of race 2 which is where it hovered for the remainder of the day.
Principal Race Officer John Hurley oversaw today’s passage race while race officer Denis Thompson kept a close watch on the IRC Racer fleet sailing off Queenscliff Head on the Manly Circle course area. |
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Syd Fischer's TP52 Ragamuffin after
the start of the Sydney to Gold Coast Yacht Race earlier
this year, is competing
in the IRC Racer - Windward / Leeward Offshore Course
of the Sydney Short Ocean
Racing Championships.
Photo © Peter Andrews.
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"Manly Circle is one of the better race courses in Australia," said Thompson this afternoon while enjoying the close racing between the TP52s in Division 1 and the battle of the 36 footers in Division 2.
"The 36 footers had some really tight races, they all seemed to be squeezing out Peter Sorensen and his boat, The Philosopher’s Club... everyone wanted to beat him," added Thompson. Sorensen was named Audi IRC National Champion for 2008 at the deciding event at Hamilton Island in late August.
IRC Racer - Division 1 & 2
What Division 1 lacked in numbers it made up in quality with three TP52s joining Peter Harburg’s Reichel / Pugh 66 Black Jack in its first Sydney appearance.
Swapping the lead in race 1 and 2 was Graeme Wood’s TP52 Wot Now and Syd Fischer’s near sistership Ragamuffin, the two eyeing off the major Championship trophy and wrestling for the psychological edge heading into the Rolex Sydney Hobart ocean classic in less than four weeks time. Wood finished the day with two wins and one second and Fischer one win and two seconds while the Mark Bradford-skippered Black Jack wasn’t able to convert the outstanding onboard talent into wins, finishing the day with three thirds. |
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Bill Ebsary's Beneteau 44.7 Le Billet
seen here off Broken Bay earlier this year is competing
in the IRC Racer - Windward / Leeward Offshore Course
of the Sydney Short Ocean
Racing Championships.
Photo © Peter Andrews.
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Race 2 proved an expensive outing for Wood with his spinnaker exploding just 100 metres from the finish line after being dropped in the tide.
As if two days hard racing isn’t enough to suck the energy out of the crew, Wot Now is heading offshore later this afternoon for an overnight training sail, all part of their Rolex Sydney Hobart preparation.
The crew has headed to Woolwich to pick up their offshore mainsail and other gear and will set sail due east before returning to Sydney "bright and alert" at dawn tomorrow, Sunday, for the second and final day of the SSORC.
"We had a few sail handling issues today but overall we were happy with our boat speed. We are in good shape for Hobart... we are just keen that’s all," said Wood, referring to their overnighter.
Despite a night of little sleep "we’ll be on our game on Sunday," laughed Wood. While he likes to joke around about this weekend’s grueling training regime, Wood and his top crew are deadly serious when it comes to their preparation for this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
In IRC Racer Division 2 it was almost a clean sweep for Bill Esbary’s Le Billet with two wins and a second for the Pittwater boat. |
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Richard Cawse's Vanguard seen here
on Sydney Harbour in 2006 is competing
in the PHS Racer / Cruiser - Short Ocean Passage Course
of the Sydney Short Ocean Racing Championships.
Photo © Peter Andrews.
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Short Ocean Race
The Short Ocean Race fleet set off from the Rolex Sydney Hobart start line area north of Shark Island in a decent sou’easter that saw at least one broach. Leslie Green’s stunning Swan 601 Ginger won the big boat start while Martin Cross’ Sydney 32 If led the smaller boats off the start boat end of the line. |
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Leslie Green's Ginger seen
here in on Sydney Harbour in 2006 was competing in
the IRC Racer / Cruiser - Short Ocean Passage Course of the Sydney Short Ocean
Racing Championships.
Photo © Peter Andrews.
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In the lee of the eastern shore of Sydney Harbour the pace slowed as brightly coloured red kites and red and yellow wet weather gear contrasted starkly against a dull sky, but the clouds had largely broken up by the time the fleet reached the Heads.
Andrew Short’s 80 footer ASM Shockwave 5 led the Short Ocean fleet down the Harbour, the maxi really stretching out as it sailed back into the southerly at South Head. |
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John Santifort's Carots N Kilo's seen
here in on Sydney Harbour in 2006 was competing in
the PHS / Cruiser Short Ocean Passage of the Sydney Short Ocean Racing Championships.
Photo © Peter Andrews.
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Ginger, helmed by internationally acclaimed yachtsman Gordon Maguire, claimed the outright handicap win in the IRC division of the passage race, beating ASM Shockwave 5 by just over four minutes on corrected time.
In the PHS results, Star class Olympic gold medallist David Forbes and his Kaiko 52 Merlin out-classed the competition in this division, the largest racing in the two-day Championship.
"It was a nice easy race for everybody. On the Merlin we just race casually, we are out for a bit of fun but we’ll always take a win," said Forbes this afternoon.
In the Sydney 32 division, If took out the overall race win on corrected time ahead of Stuart Muirhead’s Quickie and Ross Glasson’s Larrikin.
Bob Oatley’s 98-footer Wild Oats XI, while not competing in the Championship, made its presence felt as the maxi skirted around the passage race start on its way out of the Harbour for a training run.
Racing will resume tomorrow at 11am for the IRC divisions and at midday in the Harbour for the Short Ocean Race fleet.
The SSORC trophy presentation will be held tomorrow afternoon at Middle Harbour Yacht Club.
Visit the Sydney Short Ocean Racing Championship website for all the latest news!
www.ssorc.mhyc.com.au/ |
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