Winter series

Peter Campbell reports on the final race of the BMW sponsored series in Sydney

Winners were grinners in a big way back at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia this afternoon as the crews of nine yachts celebrated their overall successes in the BMW Sydney Winter Series and another eight crews toasted their wins in today’s final pointscore race.

Of the nine winners today, the crew of Andrew Short’s Volvo 60, Andrew ShortMarine, toasted a double victory - winning the final race in Division A to clinch the overall points score from David Fuller’s Sayer 45, Bashful, and Denis O’Neil’s Iain Murray-designed 51 footer, Atomic.

Soaking rain and shifty winds did nothing to dispel the enthusiasm of competitors in the final Winter Series pointscore on Sydney Harbour. “We’re saturated and cold, but it’s great rain for the farmers” was the general comment from crews as they celebrated wins - and losses.

Division A was one of the closest contests of the BMW Winter Series with Andrew Short Marine finishing with 429 points, comfortably clear of Bashful on 422 and Atomic on 419 points.

Stuart Gilbert had Division B sewn up going into today’s final race with his Farr 36, Inner Circle Rum, sailing a easy race to place 10th but win the pointscore with 420 points. Second place went to the Beneteau 47.7, You’re Hired (Andrea Banks and Ros Morgan) on 410 points, third to another 47.7, Pretty Fly II (Colin and Gladys Woods) on 405 points. Today’s winner was the casual entry Strewth (Geoff Hill).

Division C was decided today when the Reichel/Pugh designed Super 30, TheCone of Silence (James and Jenny Neill) sailed from far astern to overtake rival Poppy, Michael Phillip’s Gib’Sea 44 cruiser/racer, and place third astern of Michael Penny’s Hocus Pocus and Michael Phillips’ Mumm 30, London Calling.

The Cone of Silence won the Division C pointscore with 410 points, with LondonCalling, sailed by Phillips’ crew in his absence overseas, on 408 points taking second place on a countback from Poppy.

Only one point separated the two top boats in Division D, with Andrew Stoeckel’s Beneteau 42.7, Integrity, finishing the BMW Winter Series with 417 points to beat The Lost Boys’ Swarbrick S111, Alibi on 416 points. Third place went to MRX (Jon Short and Miles Bastick) which won today’s race to finish with 413 points.

In Division E, Ann and Bob Penty’s Beneteau 38.5 Big Blue clinched overall victory with a third today, finishing with 429 points, well clear of Grant Pollock’s Northshore 38, L’Eau Commotion, which took second on a countback from the classic sloop, Syonara (Greg Maughan) both finishing on 420 points. Today’s winner in Division F was Days Like This, skippered by Arthur Psaltis.

One of the biggest winning margins has been in Division F, with Wild BlueYonder, Terry Rhodes and David Nevell’s Noelex 30, finishing third today to complete the Winter Series with 414 points, second placing going to the Masrm 920 Out of Sight (Matt Wilkinson) on 402 points, third to the Mini Transat, WildChild (Phil Bower and David Eastwood) on 395 points, following a coutback between three boats. Today’s winner in Division F was King Hit ((George Kompolthy) which got the gun in a spectacular tight spinnaker reach to the line just ahead of Half Hour (Paul Hendrey).

The Bonbridge 27 Gold Dust (Peter Fallon and Jason Bennett) was one of four retirements from Division G, but she had enough points on the board to win the series with 423 points, ten clear of Kirralaa (Vincent Munro) on 413, third place going to Apache Star (Sandra and Ron Weston) on 406 points. Winner today was Peter Howes’ Searug Hoo Ha, helmed by his daughter, Sally.

The non-spinnaker Division J saw a runaway win today by Gusto (Phillip Denison) but a fourth placing by Sextant (Denis Doyle and Lynne Smith) was sufficient for a two-point overall victory. Sextant finished with 427 points, second overall going Stormy Petrel (Kevin O’Shea) on 425, third to Gusto on 421 points.

The new Sydney 38 Division was one of the closest fought fleets throughout the BMW Sydney Winter Series, with the overall series going to Michael Jones’ Cinquante, despite placing only ninth today. Cinquante finished with 419 points to beat Team Lexus (Mayo/Henry/Miller) on 417 points which took second place on a countback from Estate Master (Martin and Lisa Hill) and No Options (Darryl Hodgkinson). Today’s final race went to Obsession (Peter Mooney).

Next Sunday will see the BMW Sydney Winter Series continue with a trophy race, followed by Ladies Day the following Sunday.