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To the Victors Go the Spoils in the Sydney Audi Winter Series
The 125 starters in today's final pointscore race of the Audi Winter Series, were greeted with a sun drenched Sydney Harbour and warm winter temperatures of 15C but alas not much wind, in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia organised race. In many divisions this race was going to determine who took first place and the spoils of victory and who was relegated further down the leaderboard.
Principal Race Officer Denis Thompson got the fleet in away in 6-8 knots of westerly breeze that gradually dropped to 2 knots as the last starters commenced their race. The breeze tormented the fleet all day long dropping out shortly after 1.30pm and then weakly filling in from the nor'east.
"Approximately 20 minutes before the time limit expiration the nor'easterly filled to 8-9 knots and brought the fleet home," Thompson said.
"My congratulations to all competitors in the Audi Winter Series – it has been a tough light air series but the competition has been fierce," Thompson said this afternoon.
For Dick Cawse, today was one of the most frustrating day's sailing he has ever had. "I'm glad I don't have high blood pressure," Cawse quipped this afternoon. "That was heart attack material!"
"We started last and struggled our way through the fleet only to have the breeze drop out on us. When the breeze came back in we managed to get to the front, only to have it shut down again. We found ourselves in last place at one point but then rallied back to finish third," Cawse added.
Finishing in third place gave Cawse the provisional series win in Division A from Bob Steel's TP52 Quest (finishing first in today's race) and David Pescud's Lyons 53 Sailors with Disabilities. It has been ten years since Cawse and his Vanguard crew secured a divisional win in the Audi Winter Series, and having been the bridesmaid for the last four series in a row.
Guy Stening's Melges 32 Optimum secured triple glory today – he was the fastest boat around the course, secured first place in his division and the provisional series win (Division B). Optimum was forced out of the series after a collision in race 10 but made a quick recovery to be back on the water for the last two races.
"It was a case of trying to pick where the breeze were coming from today and we were able to do that," Stening said. Division B was the largest division in the series and extremely competitive with only 1.8 points separating Optimum, Patrice Six and Occasional Coarse Language coming into the last race.
"It was anyone's game," Stening said when referring to the divisional win, "and that's the way we approached the race today. It has been great competition but also good fun. The conditions suited us nicely – even though there were lots of holes. Congratulations to all competitors in our division for such a good season."
For Chris Rabbidge, he is lucky to have a boat that loves light air. Rabbidge's modified Mumm 36 Mean Machine secured a win in division D and the provisional division series win on a countback from Alan Mather's Akela, after a game of snakes and ladders.
"It was a mentally tough day on water today – the wind shifts were just phenomenal. We'd fall down a snake and trying to find a ladder to bring us back up. There was breeze out there but you really had to find it!" an exhausted Rabbidge said this afternoon.
"It was a closely fought division – what started out as a fun social sail this winter changed when we got a few wins under our belt. We realized that we were doing okay and decided to take it more seriously. Going into today's race we knew we needed to win and get four places on Akela to secure the series division win. We didn't know that we'd won until we saw the printed pointscore," Rabbidge concluded.
John Santifort secured the double win today - race and the provisional Division G series win with his Hick 30 Carats n Kilos and had the honour of being handed the set of keys to an Audi A5 Sportback 3.0 TDI quattro for a week.
Other winners today included David Mason's Europa (Division C), Matthew Fisher's Greengate (Division E), Steve Wyatt's Double Trouble (Division F), Jason Klaas' The Holy Gale (Division H), Charles Curran's Sydney (Division J) and Paul Williams' Takana (Division K) and Richard Holstein's Next (Sydney 38)
Other Provisional Division winners include Justin Graham's Jet (Division E), Steve Wyatt Double Trouble (Division F), Jason Klaas' The Holy Gale (Division H), Shaaron Walsh's Trim (Division J), Paul Williams' Takana (Division K) and Richard Holstein's Next (Sydney 38). Division C results are subject to protest.
One race still remains in Audi Winter Series – the non-pointscore Ladies Day Race for the Chris Lee Trophy on July 25. Skippers must enter by 1700hrs on Wednesday 21 July 2010 nominating their lady skipper and division (spinnaker or non-spinnaker).
All winners and placegetters are invited to attend the Audi Winter Series Prizegiving to be held at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia this Friday 23 July, 2010 from 7pm onwards. Bookings can be made through CYCA Reception on 8292 7800 or reception@cyca.com.au.
Full race results: http://www.cyca.com.au/sysfile/downloads/2010/club/2010-aws/13RGrp3.htm
Audi Winter Series Divisional Pointscore: http://www.cyca.com.au/sysfile/downloads/2010/club/2010-aws/SGrp3.htm
Sydney 38 results: http://www.cyca.com.au/sysfile/downloads/2010/club/2010-aws-s38/series.htm
By Jennifer Crooks, CYCA media
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