Bellerive Yacht Club member Jeff Cordell has won a somewhat rare collection of trophies in the weekend’s Crown Series Bellerive Regatta with his Mumm 36 yacht B&G Advantage.
Cordell skippered B&G Advantage to overall first place in both the AMS and PHS categories of Racing Group Division 1, becoming inaugural Tasmanian AMS (Australian Measurement System) champion in that division.
To cap a winning weekend, he retained the ‘Mumm 36 World Championship’, a light-hearted but traditional part of the Banjo’s Shoreline Crown Series Regatta for the past decade and more.
B&G Advantage won Racing Group Division 1 AMS and PHS from another Mumm 36, Matthew Keal’s Heat Wave while War Games (Wayne Banks-Smith) recovered from a race two OCS to win the IRC category overall.
It was a fitting win for Cordell as he has been driving force in building up AMS as a club-orientated handicap system and in convincing Bellerive Yacht Club to include the inaugural Tasmanian AMS championship as part of the Crown Series Bellerive Regatta.
Racing Group Division 2 saw just two points between Nathan Mills and Jay Nibb’s Young 88, Young One, John Dryden’s Mount Gay 30, Prion, and Stewart Geeves’ Young 88 Footloose in PHS results.
Prion won AMS and the PHS division titles, while Footloose took the IRC honours. Prion thus became the AMS champion for Racing Division 2, while Cromarty Magellen (Richard Grant) is AMS champion for Cruising (spinnaker) Division 1. Wings Three (Peter Haros) won Cruising (spinnaker) Division1 under PHS.
Cruising (spinnaker) Division 2 went to Mischief (Duncan Macgill) and Division 3 to SHrinkEDGE (Andrew Jones) on a countback from fellow Port Dalrymple Yacht Club boat Hotdog (Ross Edmunds). The Goo (David Paine) won the Cruising (non-spinnaker) division.
Elliott Noye, one of Tasmania’s most talented and versatile young yachtsmen, is the new State champion helmsman in the SB20 sports boats.
Steering Porco Rosso with owner Paul McCartney and Edward Snowball as crew, Noye finished the championship with a scorecard of 2-2-4-1-1-(9)-4, a 10-point winning margin from defending State champion Pinch (Frazer Read). Karabos (Nick Rogers) placed third.
A comeback to sailing his beloved International Dragons proved a winner for Justin Barr, helming Zane
Ridgeway’s Magic, recently brought to Hobart from Metung in Victoria.
Magic won by just one point from Wicked (Andre Blakney) with another two points to Ridgeway, helmed by Brendan Crisp, with the teenager winning race five.
In the off-the-beach classes, overall winners of the classes were: Oscar O’Donoghue and Rupert Hamilton (29ers), Hugo Allison and James Gough (International Cadets), Sarah Sargent (Laser 4.7), Ed Broadby (Optimists), Sean Keady (Paper Tiger), Lara Racape and Stella Gasperini (Flying 11), Lisa Blackwood (International 2.4m), Rohan Langford (Moth Foiler) and Oliver Whitton (Sabot).
The Bellerive Regatta Association Trophy went to Amy Potter who skippered a 29er with Anna Reid as crew, consistently placing third in the small fleet. Announcing the award, race officer Nick Hutton said the trophy recognised “good sportsmanship, great humour and a serious competitor but always having fun. The spirit of the regatta.”
The Crippo Trophy for the most impressive newcomer sailing in the regatta was awarded to John Toohey.
– Peter Campbell
