Philosopher, Shaun Tiedemann’s modified Sydney 36cr, turned in an outstanding sailing performance on the Derwent yesterday, winning five of the six handicap categories in two windward/leeward races.
Perfect sailing conditions, warm and sunny with a light to moderate breezes forecast, attracted all but three of the 30 yachts entered for the series out to enjoy the best yacht racing of the season so far.
“We had near perfect sailing conditions, warm and sunny with a moderate Easterly breeze that first – up looked like it was going to be a classic sea-breeze,” BYC sailing manager Peter Watson said after the racing.
“However the wind veered to the East just after the start of Groups 4 & 6 . Race officer Grant Sutton postponed the start of Groups 1 & 2 and relocated further into the River Derwent to give a better windward beat.
“Alibi and Kamehameha over early on start and had to restart.
“The First race fpr Divisions 1 & 2 became a one way course as the wind continued to back to the East even more.
“The Race Officer moved the windward mark again for the second race of the day and the boats had an excellent windward work as the wind finally settled in direction.
“Crew work is critical in these tight relatively short windward and return courses and one mistake can make a difference of many positions in the fleet,” Peter Watson commented.
Shaun Tiedemann, manager of the Derwent Sailing Squadron, has had great success with Philosopher since he bought her earlier this year.
With a crew of talented young Hobart sailors, graduates from dinghy classes, Philosopher sailed fast and tactically well yesterday, finishing a close fourth to the bigger boats in both races.
However, the competition was close with Philosopher winning the PHS category of the first race by just 19 seconds from Toby Richardson’s X&Y.
Philosopher went on to win the PHS, AMS and IRC categories of Division 1 in that race, continuing its good form in the second race, winning the AMS and IRC categories and finished second under PHS scoring.
The only other handicap winner in Division 1 was Filepro (Darren Clark) which won the PHS category of race 3.
In race two, the first of the day, Philosopher won Division 1 PHS from X&Y (Toby Richardson) and Tas Paints (Ian Stewart). In AMS scoring, Philosopher won from TasPaints and Jeff Cordell’s B&G Advantage.
Philosopher completed a hat-trick by winning IRC from Wayne Banks-Smith’s Farr 40, War Games, and B&G Advantage.
Filepro, skippered by Darren Clark won the PHS category of race, beating Philosopher by 17 seconds on corrected time with Madness (Gavin Adamson) third.
Philospher won the AMS category from Tas Paints and B&G Advantage and also IRC from Filepro and Madness.
Yesterday’s racing saw the return to summer pennant racing of Stephen Boyes’ Farr 40 Wired which took line honours in both Division 1 races.
In Division 2, the winners were both Young 88s, Chris Sheehan’s Saga and Young Lion (Scott Brain and Steve Chau). Saga won race 2 from Wildfire (Malcolm Robinson) and Young Lion while Young Lion won race 3 from Saga and Wildfire.
In Division 4 the winners on corrected time were First Light (Ben Davidson) and Hornet (Neville Georgeson). First Light had an outright win in the first race, with Atilla (John Hunn) second on corrected time and Hornet third.
In the second race for Division 4, Hornet led the fleet around the course to win from Mick Sheehan’s Just in Time and Charles Peacock’s Serica.
Division 6 produced two different winners, Innovator (Ian Smith) and Kindred Spirit (Peter Alcock).
In race 2, Innovator outsailed the fleet to win on corrected time from Malcolm Cooper’s Kaiulani and Kamehema (Frank Chatterton) while in race 3 Kindred Spirit won from Ingenue (Nigel Johnson) and Alibi II (Rod Williams).
– Peter Campbell
