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Ocean Pointscore Series Commences

The first race of the Ocean Pointscore series, the Lion Island race, was unable to be sailed due to the strong westerly winds and rough offshore conditions on Saturday 26 September. An alternate three lap harbour race was sailed.

Racing commenced at 1000hrs in 25-33 knots of westerly breeze, with many yachts having two reefs set in their mains, and skippers being cautious in the conditions. 

Sail area counted for everything on the first reach up to Manly. For the most part, the wind was just on the beam, but there were fluky areas where it came from ahead. Wind speed up the first leg was approx. 25 knots, which caused many of the boats to lose their second reef and some choosing to go to a full main.

Dick Cawse’s Lyons/Cawse 60 Vanguard led the fleet from the start, and maintained the lead throughout the race. With the course being all reaching, there were few position changes unless the sail area changed. There was a tough battle amongst Paul Clitheroe’s Beneteau 45 Balance, Warwick Sherman’s Cookson 12 Occasional Coarse Language (OCL), Julian Farren-Price’s Cookson 12 About Time, and Sweetapple, Bruce and Lee Warner Jones 40 Quetzalcoatl, for positions in the first two laps.

A sail change to a full main from two reefs on Julian Farren-Price’s Cookson 12 About Time gave her a slight edge over Warwick Sherman’s Cookson 12 Occasional Coarse Language, which had stayed with one reef for the entire course. Those that had a full main got overpowered in some of the top end gusts and at the gybe mark between Manly East and West a spectacular double round up by About Time and Quetzalcoatl occurred. This gave Occasional Coarse Language the opportunity to gain an advantage, but as the pressure reduced, the larger sail area paid off with About Time and Quetzalcoatl reclaiming their positions.

Paul Clitheroe’s Beneteau 45 Balance finally powered through the middle markers carrying more sail than both the Cooksons and Quetzalcoatl finishing a creditable second in the IRC Division.

The legs back from Manly to Shark and Clark Islands were tricky, with the western channel being the shorter route but tougher for wind because of the light areas around the headlands. At times, the boats that chose the western channel were in patchy breeze but momentum kept boat speed up. The eastern channel boats kept their speed but had to sail the longer route. Those that could hold their own in the calm patches were best placed for the island roundings and the finish.

The wind built from a steady 25 at the start, with gusts of 30, to a steady 30 knots by the finish, with 37 knots the top gust Occasional Course Language experienced.

Final Placings were:

IRC Division
1st – Dick Cawse’s Lyons/Cawse 60 Vanguard
2nd – Paul Clitheroe’s Beneteau 45 Balance
3rd – Matthew Short’s TP52 Shortwave

PHS Division
1st Sweetapple, Bruce, Lee Warner syndicate’s Jones 40 Quetzalcoatl
2nd – Philippe Mengual’s Beneteau First 40 Paca
3rd – Geoff Lavis’ Inglis/Murray 50 UBS Wild Thing

Full race and series results can be found at https://www.cyca.com.au/editorial.asp?key=894

By Sarah Goddard-Jones and Jennifer Crooks

CYCA Principal Sponsor

CYCA Official Sponsors

CYCA Youth Sailing Academy Sponsors and Supporters