Winter showed that she was not finished today for the hardy sailors that ventured out into the River Derwent for the final race of the 2017 BYC Hobart Jaguar Land Rover Winter Series.
“Snow to low levels and a cold west to south westerly wind, blowing at times to 25 knots, made for difficult and uncomfortable racing,” reported sailing manager Peter Watson. “However, it was all smiles aboard Wild West, Twitch and Vitaminsea, each securing their overall series wins.”
Watson added that despite the southerly cold cells blasting through the fleet at up to 25 knots there were times of light 10 knot breezes.
“This placed a premium on the crew’s ability to ‘change gears’ and keep their yachts powered up and in optimum sail trim,” Watson commented.
In Division 1 today, Wild West (Michael and Michelle Denney) led the fleet around the course, but placed fourth on corrected time to race winner Ramrod (Tim Maddock).
However, with three wins already on the board, this was sufficient for Wild West to win the winter pennant with a net 7 points.
The 8-metre Juana (Jock Young) finished runner-up overall on 13 points, gaining second place on a countback from Jeff Cordell’s B&G Advantage.
A win today in Division 2 gave Richie Upton’s Twitch the winter pennant with a net 8 points, second place overall going to Hydrotherapy (Jim Thorpe) on 10 points, third Trouble (Mark Millhouse) on 15 points.
Division 3 overall winner, Vitaminsea (Wayne Pitt) ended with a comfortable margin after placing second in the fifth and final race to Skeme (Paul Rogerson). Vitaminsea won three of the five races on corrected time,
Vitaminsea’s net score was 5 points, Skeme’s 8 points, with third place overall going to Kama (Rod Cushion) with a net 11 points.
The two other River Derwent clubs yet to finish their winter series are Derwent Sailing Squadron next Sunday and the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania the following Sunday. Each club series comprises five races.
– Peter Campbell
