First bullet for Allen

A report from the Sydney 38 Internationals Cup

Day three of the inaugural Hamilton Island-sponsored Sydney 38 InterNations Cup and Principal Race officer Denis Thompson set a classic double windward leeward race, but with six mile legs, for the 23 boat fleet.

As the fleet lined up on the Manly Circle, north of Sydney Heads, the breeze was blowing from the north north east at eight-ten knots. On the pin Cameron Miles and Steve Robson on Rush had a good start. Series leader, Martin Hill's Estate Master, was four boats further up the line, while Steve McConaghy positioned Alan Quick's Outlaw midline, looking for clean air. Guido Belgiorno-Nettis had positioned Transfusion near the committee boat.

Michael Coxon (North Sails) made a smart tactical call, taking Matt Allen's Ichi Ban left along with Geoff Master's Risk, Rush and Transfusion. These boats gained against mid course boats, that group included Estate Master. On the right hand side Steve Kulmar's Shining Sea and Geoff Bonus' Calibre were coming back.

The wind began building nicely, soon it had reached 12-14 knots, a perfect autumn sailing day.

At the first mark rounding Ichi Ban had a good lead ahead of Rush with Transfusion third ahead of Zen and Swish, so it was clear the left certainly paid. Sailing up the middle of the course Estate Master Master was 14th, from the right Shining Sea was eighth and Calibre 11th.

A lot of attention was being paid to rig set up before the start, with the day predicted to build with a northeaster up to 25 knots, expected by mid-afternoon. As the fleet headed down the first run, gusts were increasing with 16-17 knots already registering - a fine afternoon for surfing.

Before racing this morning, Martin Hill whose Estate Master started yesterday in seventh place, but finished on top with two wins and a third commented, "the fleet is so close that getting the weather prediction right and rig tension today will be particularly important. Threats could come from just about every boat in the top ten today, with Matt Allen on Ichi Ban, the Europeans on Star Dean-Willcocks Yeah Baby, Shining Sea, the Canadians' on Easy Tiger and the Transfusion guys needing particular attention."

Hill did not know how right he was. Ichi Ban rounded the bottom mark, half way through the race, after an hour and 52 minutes, four boat lengths ahead of Transfusion, with Rush in third place ahead of Zen. In a tight bunch behind them, Shining Sea was seventh, Star Dean-Willcocks' Yeah Baby was eighth, Estate Master was deep at 14th and Outlaw was 18th.

As the fleet sailed north again, the wind was still coming from 025 at 15-18 knots. Six miles up at the top mark, the wind was 18-20s still from 025deg.

The fleet skimmed the coast and tacked outside Long Reef. At the top mark for the second time, Ichi Ban was still leading but Cameron Miles had found a shift to slide Rush past Transfusion. Estate Master has moved up two places on the second beat and was 12th as she rounded the mark.

If the boats finish in their current order, Ichi Ban will lead the series on 36 points from Estate Master on 35 and Transfusion on 42, with Outlaw next on 48 points.

If Matt Allen's strong team held the lead for the next six miles, Class President Martin Hill needs to cross the line on Estate Master tenth or better, to retain the series lead. Hill was looking for some more 'Michael Magic', as his tactican Olympic Laser medallist Michael Blackburn, scanned the horizon looking for shifts.

This is the first Sydney 38 regatta for Matt Allen. One of Australia's hardest campaigning offshore sailors, the CYCA director recent sold his Farr 52 Ichi Ban and has just been racing his Farr 40 Ichi Ban. A keen One Design sailor, Allen sailed his first Sydney 38 race on Thursday, when he won the Sydney Yachts Invitation race on Sydney Harbour.

Keen not to be too far off the pace for the InterNations, he asked Irishman Gordon Maguire to check his rig on Friday. "I am not sure what it should look like, just make sure it's pretty much the same as the others," Allen said.

Ichi Ban took the gun from Rush and Transfusion, ahead of Zen and Shining Sea.
Estate Master finished 10th and retains the series lead.

On the first day's racing it was 1,1,3 results for Alan and Tom Quick's Outlaw. Yesterday Martin Hill did the same 1,1,3 to grab the lead. In today's long race Matt Allen has the '1' but the series is still wide open.

Ichi Ban tactician Michael Coxon commented: "Things went our way today, we stuck to our game plan, going left, as did Cam Miles on Rush. We managed to get ahead and then we kept covering. Great One design racing."

Julian Plante from first day leader and fourth boast overall Outlaw commented on their 16th today. "We did not quite have the start we wanted, We went right looking for more pressure, come back a little then Estate Master kicked us right again. There was more current than we realised and once we were deep in the fleet, there were no passing lanes."

Martin Hill summed up: "We went the wrong way but we fought back. Three races tomorrow, anything can happen. We are really looking forward to another great days racing."

Provisional Results Race 7 Hamilton Island InterNations Cup, sailed out of Middle harbour Yacht Club.

1. Ichi Ban
2. Rush
3. Transfusion
4. Zen
5. Shining Sea
6. Star Dean-Willcocks
7. Risk
8. Swish
9. Eye Candy/Howl
10.Estate Master

Hamilton Island Sydney 38 InterNations
Progressive Provisional Pointscore overall.

1 7027 Estate Master Martin & Lisa Hill 14 2 4 1 1 3 10 35
2 8138 Ichi Ban Matt Allen 2 9 9 2 7 6 1 36
3 6211 Tranfusion Guido and Michelle Belgiorno-Nettis 6 5 2 9 3 14 3 42
4 R38 Outlaw Alan & Tom Quick 1 1 3 6 8 11 16 46
5 6338 Shining Sea Stephen Kulmar 3 7 7 3 5 21 5 51
6 6071 Rush Cameron Miles 13 11 18 4 2 1 2 51
7 6305 Easy Tiger Chris Way 16 6 1 8 4 10 11 56
8 6068 Star Deans-Willcocks Yeah Baby Ola Andson & Edgaroo Vietes 16 10 6 11 9 2 6 60
9 6418 Acuity Tony Walls 7 3 5 10 11 13 13 62
10 R33 Chutzpah Bruce Taylor 8 4 11 12 16 4 17 72
11 6492 Contentious Issue Geoff Masters 5 17 21 5 13 8 14 83
12 3838 Zen Gordon Ketelbey 11 8 17 17 6 21 4 84
13 USA 93102 Eye Candy Peter D Kreuger 22 22 10 7 12 5 9 87
14 7777 Calibre Geoff Bonus 4 13 12 14 21 17 15 96
15 5944 Risk Geoff Payne 19 12 15 22 18 11 7 104
16 6231 Stonybroke Robin Tedder 9 19 20 16 10 15 19 108
17 6095 Uplift Daryl Hodgkinson 17 16 16 13 14 12 23 111
18 6073 Swish Steve Proud 15 21 8 23 15 22 8 112
19 6051 The Bigger Picture Anthony Hooper/Big Syndicate 10 18 13 20 22 20 12 115
20 MH60 Horwarth BRI Tony Levett 18 14 22 15 17 19 20 125
21 6190 The Bolter Rick Welch 21 20 19 19 19 13 21 132
22 6155 Typhoon Craig Nicholls 20 15 14 21 23 23 18 134
23 SM3801 Livewire Terry Hall 23 24 24 23 20 18 22 154

RRS 30.2 Applied - Swish
RRS 30.2 Applied - Shining Sea

Mediation Penalty Applied - Outlaw
Mediation Penalty Applied - Acuity