Hardys Secret Mens Business comes out on top

30 knot winds sweep Port Philip Bay at Skandia Geelong Week

A great day for some and a disastrous one for others as winds of up to 30 knots swept Corio Bay causing mayhem to the fleet racing for the Audi Series trophy at Skandia Geelong Week, but it was shock then delight when the Hardys Secret Mens Business crew were told they had won the regatta on count back to Flirt.

Geoff Boettcher, the Adelaide businessman that owns the Reichel/Pugh 46 Hardys boat was still trying to take in his win when told at the dock today. "It hasn’t sunk in yet. We knew we’d go close after winning Race 6, but we thought Flirt had it."

Such was the closeness of racing, that any one of the top seven boats going into the final race could have owned the series – it all came down to that vital final race. "We struggled early in the series, but came together when it mattered at the end," Boettcher said aboard his yacht this afternoon.

But Boettcher finally has the monkey off his back. Travelling to all the major regattas around Australia over the past few years, Boettcher has won divisional prizes and has finished runner-up on many occasions, but the major prize has eluded him outside of South Australia. "We had our rig retuned before coming here and it was strung up too tight and we couldn’t make the boat go. We started to loosen the rig and made a few calls and finally got it right," he continued. "Today was great for us, because the boat loves the bigger breeze – it goes great in 30 knots."

On the competition at Skandia Geelong Week, Boettcher said: "As you would expect, Flirt gave us grief all week and so did XLR8, but today we were well in front of XLR8 in both races. We expected Hicko (tactician Roger Hickman) and Chris to jump on top of us, especially today, but in the last race they tried to tack on top of us but we managed to get away from them."

Boettcher, from the Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia, also confessed: "The wind gods were definitely with us today. And I have a great core crew of eight guys from Adelaide, topped up by a couple of Sydney guys. Sean (Kirkjian - calling tactics) got us out well today. He and I don’t always agree, but I go with what he says - he knows what he’s doing. And Michael (Dunstan - on main) did a great job - he reads me and the boat well."

Both Kirkjian and Dunstan are renowned helmsmen; Kirkjian has been principal helm for Syd Fischer and more recently Geoff Ross in the Sydney Hobart and other campaigns, whilst Dunstan is better known for his one design match racing skills; a multiple winner of the Australian Match Racing title.

For Chris Dare and his Corby 49 Flirt crew, it was a bittersweet second place. "Half way through the last race we had them (Boettcher’s crew) on toast. He got the trophy, we got the boiled toffees! In a lot of ways it was very disappointing," the Melburnian owner/skipper commented. "We didn’t know how close it (the series) was until we got back to the dock this afternoon. We knew Geoff would be close, but we didn’t realise just how close."

“When we left Melbourne eight weeks ago to go on the racing circuit, we set some goals and we have far exceeded them. We didn’t do as well as we’d like in the Sydney-Hobart, but we’re getting better all the time.

“Having Roger (Hickman) on board is great. We didn’t win a race here, but we sailed consistently in all conditions. All the top boats have sailed well here. Geoff puts together a great program and has good guys sailing with him,” said Dare, who despite Andrew Plympton’s belief that the boat would not do well without him, just the opposite has been proved.

Others weren’t so lucky today. In between the two races today, Bob Oatley’s super maxi Wild Oats XI suffered a broken gooseneck. The crew tied the boom with a strop, but that broke, the boom injuring crew member Ian Smith as it fell. "We raced the whole course under jib only, but at least we finished," said crew member Barney Walker.

Smith is in hospital with a shoulder injury. The damage to both killed the super maxi’s chances of taking the major prize, their final tally sixth place overall after winning the first three races of the series.

Shogun, the Geelong DK46 owned by Rob Hanna was also dealt a cruel blow when they suffered main problems resulting in their retirement from Race 6, and there went their chances; Hanna having to settle for third place overall, just one point behind the winner and runners-up, with the usually well sailed Challenge (Lou Abrahams) finishing fourth overall just a further two points away, and Ray Roberts’ Quantum Racing a further two points away in fifth place.

Graeme Troon’s Melbourne entry XLR8, the sistership to Hardys Secret Mens Business, hooked the top mark in Race 6 and they were out the back door.

Although the seven race Audi Series is over, Skandia Geelong Week continues tomorrow with trailable, cruising and classic yachts, dinghies and more.

Elliott 7s

The Walter Turnbull crew from the ACT has taken successfully defended their title today winning the Skandia Geelong Week Elliott 7 Nationals sailed on Corio Bay today following postponement due to excessive winds.

It was clear yesterday that Matthew Owen’s crew would take the title and the Alcoa Trophy, having racked up four wins and a second place for the clear lead going into the final two races sailed in winds of up to 25 knots with big gusts today. Owen and his crew backed up with a third place and a win this afternoon, using the third as their race drop in the seven race series.

As predicted yesterday, Michael Green and his Sydney crew including Bill Sykes and Genevieve White came back with a vengeance to finish second, with Justin Mitchell and his crew on Mitchell Sails coming home third on countback. Green’s experience over 27 Hobart races helped him deal with the conditions on the Bay today, the crew scoring a win and a second to steal second place.

But back to the victors, who are used to being in the winners circle, the Walter Turnbull crew of owner/skipper Owens, Greg Breen, Andrew Reed, Stephen Cartwright and Alice Goleby celebrated the yacht’s second National title tonight in Geelong, being presented with their trophy at host venue, Royal Geelong Yacht Club shortly after 7.00pm.

"We had a lot of pressure out there today, so we sailed very conservatively in the first race to clinch the title," Owens told.

The 11-boat fleet at Geelong included five Canberra Yacht Club boats; Humungus, Escapade, Need for Speed and Huntress, who made the journey to Geelong with Owens.


Team G.U.E. cracks fourth Sports Boat title at Skandia Geelong Week

Following a couple of years away from racing, Chris Williams and his crew on Team G.U.E. have come back to Skandia Geelong Week with a vengeance, sailing their Thompson 7 to a fourth Sports Boat title in Geelong and carting off the Bundaberg Rum Trophy.

Williams and his crew of Tim Lees, Luke Birch and Greg Cotton from the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club in Sydney, beat nearest rivals and fellow RPAYC skipper Heath Walters and crew on Melges Asia Pacific by four and a half points in this closely contested seven race one-drop series.

In an all NSW show, third placegetter was Julian Golding’s Charley crew from Avalon Sailing Club in Sydney, seven and a half points in arrears of the winners. Golding led the series on day one, scoring two from two wins, but fell with a 15th in Race 3, which he subsequently used as a drop, but could not do enough to make it back to the top of the leaderboard.

Williams, who won the event and the coveted blue ‘Bundy’ jackets for three consecutive years in 2001, 02 and 03, has not been at the event for the past couple of years. "I had a couple of years away from racing, but decided to come back to have a crack at it again," he said this afternoon, at host venue, Royal Geelong Yacht Club. "We’re going to sport the jackets around town."

"We regard this event as our National Championship, the highlight of our sailing season. The racing was close; the handicaps were tough and a couple of them (races) we only won by a matter of seconds - especially yesterday when we won three.”

The Sydney sailor said his closest competitors were the second placegetters, skippered by Heath Walters, a J/24 National champion.

"It was good to see so many Thompson 7s out there - good for the class, there seems to be a revival of T7s. To win is brilliant; we love coming to this regatta. It’s well run and well organised,” Williams said. Of the competition, the victorious skipper commented: "We were concerned today in the high winds that Julian Golding’s Charley could be threat, but as it turned out we sailed a good race."