Befitting the brand, the Beneteau Cup brought together the best of cruising and racing for their annual regatta on Sydney harbour and typical of Sydney in spring, the fleet had to contend with all types of weather.
The Beneteau Cup was hosted at the CYCA and organised by Vicsail on November 6th 2015.
Provisioning took priority ahead of the race briefing with all 26 boats well catered for. A light north westerly breeze was forecast so plenty of liquid refreshments were loaded. The race officer set a generous line for Lagoon cats and Beneteau monos to share and all four divisions got away cleanly.
Race one remained light for the start and then built to a 15 knot northerly for most of the course with the faster boats heading up towards the Wedding Cake and then converging with the slower boats rounding Shark Island. As the fleet rounded Shark however, an intense storm cell became evident and by the finish of race one, near Clark Island, discussion on board had shifted from polite catering requests to urgent demands for wet weather gear.
Most of the cruiser-racers had plenty of room below deck to ‘plan the next race’ leaving just a skeleton crew to weather the storm that belted the feet with a torrential downpour. After the half-hour rinse race two got underway and followed the same course as race one in similar conditions.
The crème rose to the top in both races, with divisional winners posting either two firsts or a first and a second. The Lagoon division was won by Cozy Cat, skippered by Jacob Ven Der Eyk, non-spinnaker one was won by Inkonkoni skippered by Arthur Lane, Sweetcheeks skippered by Emir Ruzdic took out non-spinnaker two and Fine Cotton skippered by Mike Logan put in a fine performance to win the spinnaker division.
At the prize giving there were plenty of smiles with winners receiving prizes from sponsors that included vouchers form BoatCrewGear and Sydney City Marine, a ProLine tether from Wichard, and even a stand-up paddle board.
Some of the boats were brand new, and with more on the way expect next year’s Beneteau Cup to offer even more for the cruiser racer in you.
For full results click HERE.
