Shining Sea extends

A report on the Sydney 38 action at Hamilton Island Race Week

The friendly rivalry that exists in the Sydney 38 class took another step up today as Guido and Michelle Belgiorno Nettis aboard Transfusion attempt to successfully defend their 2005 Hahn Premium Race Week title at Hamilton Island.

However, they need to beat second place getter from last year, Steve Kulmar’s Shining Sea. Kulmar has other ideas. This afternoon, the two skippers were sitting aboard Kulmar’s boat enjoying a friendly beer as they discussed Kulmar’s three point series lead after a further two races today.

“As you can see, this is a very friendly class, even though we would like to take the title from Guido and Michelle,” Kulmar said. Transfusion’s crew will need to give everything they have to beat Shining Sea. Following today’s two windward/leeward races, Shining Sea has a three point lead over its adversary.

In the earlier race, sailed on Catseye Bay, Belgiorno Nettis, with Olympian Bobby Wilmot calling tactics, had the upper hand in the extremely light and patchy conditions. He came out of the blocks well and kept the rest of the fleet behind right to the finish.

“We bailed out at the right time and Steve got caught in a hole,” Belgiorno Nettis said. “We are pretty happy with our sailing so far and the competition is tremendous. Anything can happen – we still have a few days left. We will see what sort of pressure we get over the next days - emotional and wind pressure,” he laughed.

In the second race of the day, it was Kulmar’s turn. In more consistent 5-7 knot winds and making the best of the start, with Transfusion just underneath him, Kulmar, with Jan 'Clogs' Scholten calling tactics kept his boat sailing above his counterpart. “On the second beat, I sailed around 120 metres past Transfusion and then tacked. We got a great lift and extended our lead,” Kulmar said of their massive win of just under three minutes.

Extend they did, to win the race by just short of three minutes - a big win in the strictly one-design class. “I think we used the breeze better than anyone else today,” Kulmar said.

“We have a true democracy on our boat,” said Scholten, “he who yells loudest wins!”

Although the boats are strictly one-design, each crew tunes their rig and sails to suit. Kulmar says there is little difference in the two’s boat speed, but, he explains, “We set our boat up to go to windward and Guido sets his up for downwind speed. “

On how the series might pan out, Kulmar says: “Well, they beat us last year, so it would be nice for us to win this year. But as I said, this is a very friendly competition. We will see…..”

Overall, Shining Sea leads from Transfusion, with West Australian entry Limit (Alan Brierty) third following a third and fifth place and Swish (Steven Proud) fourth following fourth and third placings.

Racing continues tomorrow.