Southern Cross Cup

Expected clash between New South Wales and Victoria teams...

The 2001 Southern Cross Cup ocean racing teams series, starting off Sydney Heads tomorrow, has turned into a "state of origin" clash afloat between New South Wales and Victorian yachtsmen with close competition expected to continue throughout the 57th CYCA Sydney Hobart Race.
Captaining their teams are two veterans of national and international ocean racing, Syd Fischer skippering his Farr 50, Ragamuffin, as part of the New South Wales team, and Lou Abrahams skippering his Sydney 38 , Another Challenge, in the Victorian team.

Also in the NSW team are Sting, Terry Mullens’ Farr 49, and Loki, Stephen Ainsworth’s Swan 48 while joining Another Challenge in the Victorian team are Cadibarra, a 42-footer designed by owner Don Jones, and Bruce Taylor’s Murray/Burns/Dovell-designed 35-footer, Chutzpah.

Between them, they represent the top yachts and crews contesting the 57th Sydney Hobart Race, the eighth and final race of the Southern Cross Cup series.

Both Fischer and Abrahams are past winning owner/skippers in the Sydney Hobart Race, Fischer this year sailing in his 33rd race south, Abrahams coming up for his 39th, a record for an owner/skipper.

Rivalry between the two State teams will be intense, with NSW teams having won the Southern Cross Cup five times between 1967 and 1999 but Victoria yet to win the historic trophy that once drew wide international competition as the Southern Hemisphere equivalent of the Admiral’s Cup.

The Victorian team is strong this year with Another Challenge the current Australian champion Sydney 38 One Design class yacht, Chutzpah a consistent winner in local waters and the new Cadibarra so far unbeaten in races on Port Phillip and Bass Strait.

At the same time, the NSW combination will be hard to beat, with Sting, formerly the 1999 Telstra Sydney Hobart Race winner, Yendys, and Ragamuffin placing first and second in the IMS division of the recent JPMorgan Regatta, while Loki only lost first place in the IRC division on a protest.

In addition to the two State teams, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia and the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club have each nominated club teams.

The CYCA comprises John Kahlbetzer’s Murray/Burns/Dovell-designed 62-footer, Bumblebee 5, steered by her designer Iain Murray, Ashley Reed and Michael Spies’ Beneteau 40.7, Shipping Central, and Craig Malouf’s Sydney 38, Next.

The RPAYC team is a mixed team, comprising Rush of Sweden, the Sydney 40 Turbo, entered by Swedish yachtsman David Falt and Pittwater sailor Ron Jacobs, SAP Ausmaid, owned by Adelaide yachtsman Kevan Pearce and skippered by Roger Hickman, and Cameron Miles’ Sydney 38, Rush.

The Southern Cross Cup will be sailed as a teams event within the seven race British Trophy Series (previously the Telstra Cup) for individual yachts, this year attracting 28 yachts racing under IMS and IRC handicap categories.

In addition to the IMS and IRC divisions, 10 yachts will contest the Farr 40 One Design Division and seven boats have entered for the Mumm 30 Division, for their Australian Championship, with entries from NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia