Wet, windy and wobbly day for Dragons on the Derwent
12-Jan-2012
Photo: Shapes (Wolf Breit, NSW) leading the second group of yachts in race four. Photo: Peter Campbell.
The rain came in blinding squalls and with it strong, gusty and chilly winds from widely varying points of the compass, but champion International Dragon skipper Nick Rogers was always in command to win race five of the Prince Philip Cup on Hobart’s River Derwent.
Well, almost. The Tasmanian champion, sailing Karabos IX with crew Leigh Behrens and Simon Burrows as crew, sat becalmed near the windward mark the second time round as his opposition “came in from the left and in from the front with heaps of breeze,” Rogers recalled after the race. Fortunately, he picked up enough breeze to round the windward mark still in front, and was never headed.
Most crews were well rugged up for Hobart’s unseasonal burst of wintery weather, although crew member Ian Ross got wetter than most.
He toppled overboard from Jock Young’s Aquila shortly after the start, but was quickly recovered by Young and fellow crewman Nick Jones, giving the ‘thumbs up’ back on board as rescue boats quickly converged on the scene. Aquila then retired from the race.
This was Karabos IX’s third win in four races, giving Rogers a comfortable pointscore margin in its bid to win his 10th Prince Philip Cup as a skipper, plus one as a crew. Karabos IX is on 5 points after four races.
Always alert to the likely wind shifts, Rogers started in a position up the line that enabled him to tack quickly on to port tack and head right, anticipating more pressure from the west and flatter water in towards Sandy Bay, It paid off handsomely on the first beat to windward that gave him that vital margin when he ran out of wind on the second beat.
“We got the wind shift to the west early on the first beat and gave us the margin that eventually won us the race,” Roger said.
Race officer Biddy Badenach was forced to change the course direction twice. After initially setting the windward mark direction at 200 degrees, he changed it to 220 degrees, then with the wind again changing direction, set it at 190 degrees for the final windward leg.
Second place overall on 13 points is British yachtsman Robert Campbell and his crew of Rene Nel and Simon Cash sailing Indulgence, who finished fourth in race four, while third overall on 17 points after a second today is Sydney yachtsman Wolf Breit, with Roger Hickman and Dan Morrow as crew, sailing Shapes.
Race three winner Ridgeway (Stephen Shields) had a “best be forgotten” sailing day, finishing 10th in the fleet and dropping to fourth overall on 19 points. Aquila (Jock Young) is still fifth overall despite the retirement.
Karabos IX won heat four from Shapes with third place going to another Tasmanian boat, Leander, sailed by Stephen Henley, Justin Barr and Andrew Burnett, with British yachtsman Robert Campbell placing fourth in Indulgence, followed by Western Australian Sandy Anderson, helming Linnea.
By Peter Campbell
For more information:
www.ryct.org.au
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