CYAA 2016 Winter Series Race 3 May 29 May 31 2016

2016 Winter Series Race 3 Results

Corrected time congratulations go to Mercedes III for her winning margin of 15 seconds over secondplacing Martini. Martini must take the sail of the day award for holding off Kingurra by 30 secondscorrected and for holding off Frances by another minute or so. The conditions were considered to favourbig boats but not so said the two up crew on Martini, Ross Clark Skipper and crewed by Garry Reeves.

Line honours congratulations go to Kingurra. Ian Macfarlane with Glen Kile and Kevin Bailey had all theircrew working well to hold off that ever persistent and not going away Mercedes III. The kite sets on bothClassic Yachts after rounding P3 showed how intense the battle was.

Course selection

With 15 knots of wind available and a left over southerly slop the HBYC race committee decided oncourse of 10 nautical miles to give the Classics adecent beating leg. This course selection meant areaching start down to Mark R3 before starting thebeating leg out to Pipeline mark P3, then a longrun to RMYS Mark C before a slightly sprungsheet reach to the finish line.

Renene brings her glamour to the Classicfleet.

One pre start sight for Sundays Classic Fleet wasto see Renene preparing to take the Classic fleet on again. After her recent Geelong Wooden Boat Festivalracing. Kent Bacon had Renene’s crew tuned up to resume where they last left off.

Cowes Regatta training on Mercedes III

Our Sydney CYAA member, Phil Brown, was on board Mercedes III for Race 3. Phil’s part of the CYAAteam that’s taking on the Classic yacht racing world at Cowes this coming June. Along with Phil is RichardGates, What more can a team want? This Martin Ryan team from Mercedes III team is fully credentialed todo a repeat of what Mercedes III did in the first Australian based Admirals Cup challenge. When this Cowesevent kicks off the CYAA will have updates on all the on and off water action, Australia style.

The Start line attack.

With 16 Classics all going for a running start, count down timing calls were heard across the fleet. Cyanwas all set for the best start but at 8 seconds to go she had to abandon her run to avoid the possibility of arecall. Down at the pin end Mercedes III hit the line at full speed to keep Kingurra honest. Frances was atthe pin end of the line to cross at 0 seconds to go after a quick luff. Stirring stuff was the committee boatcall as they watched the Classic Fleet attack the start line.

It was between Avian and Ettrick at the Committee end. Warringa and Renene managed to discuss, mostamicably, the current wind situation. Unfortunately the fleet following tookAvian’s took her air for awhile as Ettrick and Marie Louise III footed outwell to clear away from the fleet. Leading the second group of Classics wasAvian with Martini and Serifa.

Rounding P3.

After the R3 turning mark decisions to harden up or tack were made. TheFleet leaders hardened up to take on the 15 knot slop while a couple ofsmaller Classics, Ettrick first then Renene then later Martini and Serifadecided to tack on the punt that lighter southerly sea conditions wereavailable further inshore. The roll of the dice punt paid off big time forMartini, she was at hull speed on a beat to P3 withbeam on seas and the seas on the next leg hadlightened off . By the time Martini completed this legthe seas had dropped to make slop free beat to makeP3.

First leg of the hard beat to P3.Not so for the fleet that hardened up. Shipping of bigseas was the scene across this fleet of Classics.Warringa was in her element as she took on all bigsea’s in lee gunnel down conditions. Avian waspowered up ands didn’t give much ground to MarieLouise III and Trim. Zephyr, with Kath Sollycrewing with Anne and Karen Batson, was workingwell in the heavy seas after recent adjustments to therepaired mast. Not far back in the heavy seas beat and holding their ground was Dingo and Bungoona.Meanwhile the white dots in the distance, Ettrick and Renene were becoming smaller white dots as thebeating Classic fleet marched on. Waiting for the fleet leaders to throw for the tack to the out of sight blackstick, aka P3, was the go. If only the discussions on this subject by the Mercedes III Cowes team wereknown.

Track of Martini. 2nd by 15 secondson corrected time to Mercedes III

Warringa and Cyan search for P3

Ettrick after her Marie Louise III let off

Zephyr looking good

Approaching P3.Kingurra finally threw. Mercedes III carried onsomewhat to cover hopefully them. Frances continued onwith the knowledge it was too early to throw. Furtherback in the Fleet at this time was Akuna with Pat Millerfrom the South Haven Yacht Club on the helm. A smalldetail of a tug boat with a barge didn’t do them anyfavours as Akuna gave it as good back to Port Phillip, asit was throwing at Akuna.

Rounding P3.After a short dig the fleet saw P3 rounded with fast kitesets by Kingurra and a closely following Mercedes III.Frances soon followed them with some hard kite hoistingwork. Marie Louise III followed after some

Port/Straboard work with Trim and a closely watched Ettrick. Martini and Avian steamed around P3, withSerifa, not far away. Warringa with her stunning beam on seas beat over to P3 was back with the main fleetleaders. Cyan out paced the fleet on this leg and made up time to follow Zephyr at the P3 rounding. Somebig leeway time was made up here by Cyan. Dingo closely followed by Bungoona the fleet on this beatingleg to P3. From a distance it looked like Renene and Akuna were in a Port/Starboard duel approaching P3but Chris Havre from Akuna reports not so.

Race 3 Fleet approaching P3.

P3

Kingurra after rounding P3

Tumlarens Avian and Dingohard at work on the way to P3

Mercedes III afternot long afterrounding P3 on herway to 1st oncorrected time win.

The run to RMYS Mark CWith Kingurra, Mercedes III and Frances leading the way under kites For some of the following fleet, itwas a poled out head sail for others it was a kite. Until the following breeze dropped all the fleet had theirplaces. Trim, with a kite flying and her mizzen working well, finally cleared out from Marie Louis III as thebreeze dropped but Martini, two up with a poled out head sail didn’t lose any distance on Marie Louise III.A great sight looking down the fleet on this run.

Warringa on her beam seas beat to P3

Race 3 Classic Fleet after rounding P3

Rounding RMYS Mark CAfter the rounding of Mark C the fleet held their positions to finally cross the line where the race committee,flying the CYAA pennant were given a big thank you for a great race by all the Classic fleet.

So thank you to the Hobsons Bay Yacht Club race committee.

Race 3 Classic Fleet Approaching RMYS Mark C

Trim EttrickMarie Louise III

Zephyr Avian and Martini

Race 3 Classic Fleet Approaching RMYS Mark C

Trim Ettrick

Dingo approaches the Race 3 finish line with the Race Committee flying the CYAA Pennant

Classic Yacht photos in Race 3One other race report comment was the presence of the RMYS Rescue Vessel. William Paterson, out on atraining exercise. With the Classic Fleet racing it’s now known as the best photo opportunity on Port Phillipfor some great action shots of vessels that raced in the 1920’s through to the 1960’s that are still racingtoday as they were in their much younger days. Embedded in the story are some of the photos taken byDave Croke from the William Paterson as the crew went about their training. The displayed photos areonly a small sample of those available.

Next CYAA (Vic) Race.

Next race is June 19. This race will be a combined start to be conducted for the Association by the RoyalYacht Club of Victoria. We will do a pursuit race for the final race of the series. An amended Notice of Racewith the new race date details is on the CYAA Web site

Apologies from the handicapper.In the pre race notes the story about the Logs of Jock Muirs delivery voyages was given. In the commentsreference was made to Carl Defino’s Anitra as Anitra V. Not so, Phil Brown our visiting Sydney CYAAmember gently alerted the handicapper that Anitra V is based in Sydney. Phil knows this detail as just bycoincidence he owns her. Phil explained that Anitra V was named with the V to stop confusion of thenames. So here’s goes the handicapper, with both barrels blazing, referring to the Port Phillip Anitraincorrectly. Good one handicapper and apologies to Phil. The handicapper will work on correctly referringCarl Defino’s Anitra as Anitra in future .

Visitor from the South Haven Yacht Club

One feature of Race 3 became apparent after the race when,during the after race get together, the skipper ofAkuna, Chris Havre and his crew introduced the handicapper to Pat Miller from the South Haven YachtClub based in the US State of Michigan. Pat reports his time racing with the Classic Fleet on Akuna was aexperience that doesn’t occur in his part of the US. So after an introduction to our Association PresidentMartin Ryan we have a happy visitor returning to his home club with a report on his time racing with theCYAA on Port Phillip. A separate report and photos of his visit has been prepared for Pat to present to hishome yacht club in South Haven. Pat’s the current treasurer and ex commodore of his home yacht club.

So until next race

Regards to all

Peter Costolloe, CYAA (Vic) Handicapper

Pat Miller receives a CYAA pennant as a memento of hisRace 3 racing with Akuna from Tim Boucaut of Warringa