Sean Langman's LBxx, winner division B, race 6, Audi Winter Series. Credit ACE Marine Photography.
by Lisa Ratcliff/CYCA media
Sunday’s forecast 15-20 knot west to nor‘westerly winds only figured on paper with nothing over 10 knots recorded for the sixth Audi Winter Series race in a row and the mid-afternoon pause in proceedings resulting in the lowest number of finishes for many many years.
“At least there’s no glass out” consoled Principal Race Officer Denis Thompson in the early afternoon, only to eat his words an hour later as the WSW breeze dropped from eight to a lousy two knots forcing competitors to battle an outgoing tide and no wind as they laboured to the finish line off Shark Island in Sydney Harbour as the light faded.
Just 28 from 129 starters finished within the 4.30pm time limit, the heaviest number of DNF’s (Did Not Finish) and ABN’s (Abandoned) scored in well over a decade according to the long serving volunteers on the committee boat Offshore.
All divisions bar C were made to sail their full course as they were already through the gate by the time the breeze clapped out.
With news reports of 130kph winds lashing the NSW south coast, in contrast Sydney Harbour was a practically a mill pond. Although by the look of the crew numbers aboard Dick Cawse’s reconfigured Cawse/Lyons Vanguard, they were perhaps readying for a heavy air hit-out this afternoon against the rest of division A.
When it counted David Pescud’s Lyons 53 Sailors with disAbilities was the sole division A finisher, taking more than four and a half hours to complete the two laps and scraping in less than five minutes before their time expired thanks to the light late afternoon sea breeze.
David Pescud's_Sailors with Disabilities, winner Division A, Race 6, Audi Winter Series. Credit ACE Marine Photography.
“The guys took all the catches and it showed in our result,” said a pleased Pescud this evening. “A couple of weeks ago we tried it another way and it went to custard. It’s feast or famine in what has been a very quiet Audi Winter Series so far.”
Division B honours went to Sean Langman’s slickly sailed Sydney 39 LBXX which out-paced the three other division finishers by a convincing half hour margin.
Langman is using the Audi Winter Series to trial crew for “the big boat”, referring to he and Anthony Bell’s 100 foot super maxi Investec Loyal which is in the shed at Noakes undergoing modifications prior to its relaunch for the 25th anniversary Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race.
LOYAL’s newly imported crew boss, Team New Zealand and VOR sailor Stuart Molloy from NZ, proved his worth today. “We had good trimmers and we found a few lanes. This boat likes those sorts of conditions,” Langman admitted.
The Division C fleet with their shortened course were the only ones keeping the race committee busy at the finish line. Howard de Torres’ IMX 40 Nips n Tux turned last week’s 12th around to come away the divisional winner by a minute from Sam Haynes’ Sydney 39 Celestial.
Matt Allen and Warwick Rooklyn’s Farr 40 Bandit was the last boat to finish in division C and amongst the fleet. Just four seconds later and they would have been scored DNF, instead they notched up a fourth.
The lone finisher in Division J was Ted Tooher’s Beneteau 40.7 Chancellor while in the Sydney 38 division Phil Barnes’ Livewire picked up its first win of the Audi Winter Series, chasing down Alan and Tom Quick’s Outlaw and Geoff Bonus’ Calibre which were looking famous for the gun and runner up until the breeze died.
No finishers were recorded in divisions D, E, F, G , H and K so all boats in those divisions were scored ABN (Abandoned).
Sydney’s first rain-free day in over week made for a pleasant change but as for the wind, it was Groundhog Day. This year’s Audi Winter Series has been marked by light but steady breezes and a biting winter chill at the start, a long lull in the middle – typically just after the frontrunners in each division pass through the gate - then finally a warmish, light nor’easterly sea breeze right on quittin’ time.
“It’s been six weeks in a row and we’ve seen nothing over 10 knots,” said a grim faced PRO Denis Thompson today, scouting the horizon as the dark clouds circled Sydney to the west.
Audi Winter Series organising club, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, today kept a close eye on the Bureau of Meteorology’s strong wind warning and low pressure trough, which is sitting off the NSW south coast but is expected to weaken as it heads northwards overnight.
With better than average odds, the lucky winner of the Audi A5 Sportback 3.0 TDI quattro for the week was Howard de Torres.
Cruising Yacht Club of Australia
