Exile storms into IRC contention going into the final day of the 2014 Club Marine Pittwater & Coffs Harbour Regatta Sunday 5 January 2014
Rob Reynolds DK46 Exile has stormed into IRC contention on day one of the two days of racing in Coffs Harbour as part of the five race Club Marine Pittwater & Coffs Harbour Regatta. Exile, with a first and a seventh today, has positioned themselves nicely at the top of the leader board with another two races to round out the regatta tomorrow.
Exile, the leading IRC boat after its 2nd place overall in the Pittwater to Coffs race carries the double points plus his results today to end the day on 10 points, four points clear of his Middle Harbour mate Bob Cox and his DK46 Nine Dragons with the Hudson/Murphy/ Lockley Farr 45 Pretty Woman on a lone point back in third on 15 points on the overall IRC leader board.
Andrew Byrne’s Sydney 38 The Goat took IRC boat of the day honours with a fourth and a first today to move into fourth position on the IRC ladder on 21 points. They are also equal leaders with Exile on 14 points in the PHS division and parallel Australian PHS Championships. Pretty Woman sits in third on 19 points.
Mark Griffith’s Sydney 38 Old School punched above his weight today sailing a couple of smart races with Steve McConaghy calling the shots as tactician shares the lead in the ORCi division with Pretty Woman on nine points. The 2013 ORCi regatta winners, the Tinworth/Waterhouse Beneteau 44.7 Le Billet is third on 13 points picking up their first podium of the regatta.
Competitors woke to a warm and humid day and overcast conditions in Coffs Harbour, with a 10-15 knot ENE forecast by Predictwind. Race Officer Stephen Merrington wasted no time getting the competitive 13 boat fleet underway on time at 1100hrs to begin the first of four races over two days. The course for race one was a four nautical mile windward/leeward course with the windward mark set at 060.
The fleet got away to a clean start in an 8 knot ENE in a bumpy seaway with the DK46 Rob Reynolds’ Exile out of the gates first at the pin end closely followed by Grant Pocklington’s Sydney 39 Hussy and Bob Cox’s Dk46 Nine Dragons.
Exile took the spoils in race one overtaking Nine Dragons two thirds of the way on the run to the finish to claim line honours in a tight finish time of 38mins 48secs followed by Exile and Perpetual Mocean with nothing separating the top three.
Exile also took IRC handicap honours in a corrected time of 45mins 52secs from Old School with Nine Dragons third. In PHS, it was The Goat first in a corrected time of 44mins 36secs with a 20 second win over Toy Box 2 with Exile picking up third. The ORCi division showed Old School from the Beneteau 44.7 Le Billet and Toy Box 2 in third.
Race two started just after midday with an 18 nautical mile reach to South Solitary Island with a spinnaker finish back in the Harbour. The race started in 10 knots with the fleet away to a clean start. Exile had another perfect pin end start to lead the way to the majestic top mark. The fleet reached all the way up the beaches before tacking to port to head for the island.
As they rounded the top mark with the breeze clocking a little more left to the North East and building to 15 knots, it was the 49 footer Perpetual Mocean making the most of its waterline length to lead from Pretty Woman, Exile and Nine Dragons.
It was a colourful parade as the fleet made their way back to the finish line under spinnaker with a close battle between Perpetual Mocean and Pretty Woman. It was Perpetual Mocean who took the spoils with a 12 second win in a time of 2hrs 42mins with Nine Dragons in third.
In IRC, The Goat won on handicap in a corrected time of 3hrs 13mins 30secs with a 20 second win over Le Billet whilst Ian Box’s Xp44 Toy Box 2 finished third. The PHS fleet had Le Billet on top with a very close six second corrected time win over Toy Box 2 with The Goat in third. Victory in the ORCi division went to Le Billet in front of Old School with Pretty Woman finishing in third.
So it all comes down to the wire with all divisions still up for grabs to determine the overall winners with two races on the final day of the 2014 Club Marine Pittwater & Coffs Harbour regatta. The crews of The Goat and Exile will need to hold their nerve and sail well tomorrow to see if they can be crowned 2014 Australian PHS champion.
Predictwind.com forecast light 5-10 knot winds from the South East building to 15 knots in the afternoon for the final day of the regatta. Racing is scheduled to start at 1100hrs.
A huge congratulation to Laurence Pidgeon's Jutson 39 Sweetheart who finished last and arriving safely at 9:45pm last night. They travelled the 226 nautical miles double handed in nearly 57 hours!
With the completion of all the boats in the Pittwater to Coffs race last night the PHS results were declared today with Syd Fischer’s Ragamuffin officially declared the overall winner in a time of 34 hours 1 minute 18 seconds, 11 hours ahead of Exile with Pretty Woman third. They were also the Division One winners. In Division Two, it was the Hanse 385 Out of Sight skippered by Mark Gorbatov who finished last night in a time of 46 hours 40 minutes ahead of the Elan 37 Koko skippered by Roy Leslie with Astral, a brand new Dufour 36 skippered by debutant owner Andrew Butler.
For the regatta results visit www.rpayc.com.au/results/2014/coffs/coffsoffshoreseries/series.htm
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EXILE CROWNED IRC & PHS WINNER IN THE 2014 CLUB MARINE PITTWATER & COFFS HARBOUR REGATTA- Monday 6 January 2014
By Damian Devine, Club Marine Pittwater Coffs Harbour Regatta media
Middle Harbour Yacht Club’s Rob Reynold’s DK46 Exile has won the IRC division in the 2014 Club Marine Pittwater & Coffs Harbour Regatta, six points ahead of the Hudson/Lockley/Murphy Pretty Woman as the regatta drew to a close today in Coffs Harbour, hosted by The Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club.
With a scorecard of 2,1,7,2 in the four race regatta after the fifth race was abandoned, Reynold’s did enough to end his campaign on 12 points, knowing that he had to finish within five places of Pretty Woman to lift the coveted IRC regatta trophy. The Sydney 38 Old School skippered by Mark Griffith finished a further six points back to round out the podium.
Rob Reynolds DK46 Exile, winner of the IRC and PHS 2014 Club Marine Pittwater & Coffs Harbour Regatta - pic by Damian Devine
Reynolds was also crowned the Australian PHS champion with a one point win over Andrew Byrne’s Sydney 38 The Goat after being locked on equal points going into the final day. The RPAYC’s Pretty Woman were third, a further six points back.
The ORCi title went to another RPAYC boat, Mark Griffith’s Sydney 38 Old School, the 2012 IRC regatta winner. They also won by one point from Pretty Woman after being locked together overnight. Old School posted a bullet today with Pretty Woman recording a second to separate the tie. Mark Tinworth & Mark Waterhouse with their Beneteau 44.7 Le Billet were third, six points back.
Both races scheduled today got underway in a light ESE breeze that struggled to get to 6 knots with the second race shortened and then abandoned, as the wind died and the fleet attempted to inch their way to a finish.
The race committee, under the guidance of race officer Steve Merrington got the fleet away on schedule at 1100hrs today on a hot, humid day in Coffs Harbour. The first race for the fleet of 13 boats competing was a four nautical mile windward leeward on the Korffs east course set at 190 and 1.5 nautical miles offshore. As the fleet pushed their way down the line to the start it appeared there were a number going to be over. It was not a very clean start and a number of individual recalls were called including Rumba and Nine Dragons.
The beat to windward was a grind with the breeze getting soft. The course suited the Marten 49 Perpetual Mocean skippered by Bruce Hogan and his crew of RPAYC Youth Development graduates who led the fleet around the course in a smartly sailed race to take line honours in a time of 47 minutes 33 seconds from Exile and Pretty Woman.
On corrected time, IRC handicap positions were a carbon copy of line honours with Perpetual Mocean winning in a time of 59mins 9secs 45 seconds ahead of Exile with Pretty Woman third. Perpetual Mocean also took PHS honours in a time 56 mins 55 secs from Exile and Ian Box’s Xp44Toy Box 2. In ORCi it was Old School with it’s second win in the regatta 13 seconds ahead of Pretty Woman with Toy Box 2 third.
The final race had to wait more than half an hour as the AP flag went up when the breeze went softer and moved more right to the east. The committee vessel, Matthew Flinders upped anchor and moved inshore to set a course at 120. Race five got underway at 1pm with the course being the 13.5 nautical mile Korffs east, Split, harbour finish
The fleet got away to a clean start with Perpetual Mocean, Hussy and Nine Dragons opting for the pin with Old School, the best at the boat end. The boats struggled their way to the top mark before turning for a downwind to Split with the breeze fading. The race officer decided to shorten the course on that leg as fair an equitable fleet made it to the Island.
Perpetual Mocean were declared the line honours winner, however, there were a number of protests lodged over the shortened course finish line. In a protracted protest room at the Coffs Harbour Yacht Club this evening, it was decided by the jury that the race committee could not achieve a fair and equitable result for the competitors with the wind fading, so they decided to abandon the final race, a fair decision in the end welcomed by the competitors.
Bruce Hogan's Marten49 Perpetual Mocean - the front runner and boat of the day on day two of the regatta - pic by Damian Devine
An elated Rob Reynolds, skipper of Exile said on winning the IRC regatta title, “This is an absolutely fantastic feeling and I am thrilled to pick up the regatta win in IRC and the Australian PHS championship. I want to pay credit to my wonderful crew, it’s a great testament to them that we have achieved this result as a team and I am lucky to have them with me. They are a great bunch of friends and they have worked extremely hard over the past week to pull this result together. It obviously couldn’t have happened without them. ”
“I have been coming to Coffs for a few years now and this has been another fantastic regatta and all credit to the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club and Coffs Harbour Yacht Club for organising the event. It’s been a great few days, we’ve had lots of fun and I look forward to coming back next year to defend the title,” added Reynolds.
ORCi winner Mark Griffith said on his regatta win, “An excellent result, we’re very pleased, the guys worked very hard. We have an excellent crew and we’ve had a great time up here. This is a lovely regatta and to be honest, the Coffs is one of the best regattas on the Australian circuit.
We had a number of guys new to the boat and they gelled quickly and we had a great time together. It was a very hard, tough race coming up here and we worked really hard to keep the boat moving to get through the light tricky conditions but a very strong crew who really tried their hearts out. I applaud them,” said Griffith.
Mark Griffith's Sydney 38 Old School, ORCi regatta winner - pic by Damian Devine
So with the 2014 Club Marine Pittwater & Coffs Harbour regatta now over, everyone’s looking forward to the 34th running of the regatta in 2015.
The prized Navigator’s trophy was awarded to Richard Arnall’s Corby 43 Anger Management for his perfect prediction for the final 22 nautical miles from Nambucca Heads to the finish, recorded with Marine Rescue Coffs Harbour.
Ian Audsley, Vice Commodore of host club The Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club summed up the 2014 Club Marine Pittwater & Coffs
Harbour regatta saying, "The regatta turned into its true name, the warm water regatta. “The results were very, very close, reflecting some great racing. Thanks to our sponsor Club Marine who are so supportive of what we’re doing .“
My thanks to the Coffs Harbour Yacht Club, the marina, John Bacon for the use of his marvellous vessel the Matthew Flinders as the support vessel and start boat up here, the race committee and the army of volunteers involved and to everyone who has made this a great event. I look forward to seeing you in 2015."
For the regatta results visit www.rpayc.com.au/results/2014/coffs/coffsoffshoreseries/series.htm
Club Marine, Australia’s largest provider of pleasure craft insurance, is proud to be the naming rights sponsor of the 2014 Pittwater & Coffs Harbour Regatta.
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Andrew Byrne's Sydney 38 The Goat, finished 2nd in PHS - pic by Damian Devine
The Hudson/Murphy/Lockley Farr 45 Pretty Woman podiumed in every division of the regatta - pic by Damian Devine