Day 1 of the 2024 Nautilus Marine Insurance Sydney Short Ocean Racing Championship (SSORC) could not have been any better - a beautiful north-easterly sea breeze on a sunny hot day was the perfect way to brush off the cobwebs and enjoy a day offshore.
Middle Harbour Yacht Club (MHYC), organiser of the annual event now in its 47th year, set a course to Lion Island, north of Sydney. Steele Point in Vaucluse was the scene for a 10am start.
Six boats faced off in the Super 50s and Marcus Blackmore s Hooligan came out on top by five minutes to Craig Neil s Quest. Local yachtie, Gordon Ketelebey scored third with Zen.
Blackmore was not aboard, he's on True North supporting the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. Martin Hill was over the moon to be asked to skipper Hooligan this weekend. According to the boat s coach, Terry Wetton, You can't wipe the smile of Martin s face.
And fortunately, Hill lived up to the owner and his boat's reputation!
"What a dream come true to sail on a brand new TP52 on a beautiful day," Hill said. "To step on a well-prepared boat - I'm very lucky - it s hard to describe how it feels to get a chance like this. After sailing a Farr 40, Etchells and other boats, the first things you notice is going 9 knots upwind and then ripping along at 17 knots downwind."
Sailing up to Lion Island on sparkling water and a blue sunny sky was beautiful. It brought back great memories of sailing up there before, Hill enthused. Hill and Blackmore will be thrilled to know Hooligan also won the Gun Boat Trophy as the line honours winner for the race.
There are two divisions in the IRC/ORC Premier classes representing all major clubs on Sydney Harbour as well as Pittwater and Cronulla.
David Ross proved hard to beat, sailing his Cape 31, Kukukerchu, to a near five minute win over the DK46, Khaleesi, owned by MHYC Commodore, Rob Aldis. Of course, the other DK46 and Aldis' clubmate, Nine Dragons (Bob Cox), was third - the two are well-performed rivals.
"It was great conditions, a bit tricky in terms of the sea state with the nor' easterly breeze making it a bit choppy. It was a little bit hard on the little boat going to windward, but we certainly made up for it downwind," Ross said.
"We saw 19 knots, with the odd gusts a bit more. Our top boat speed was 18 knots, it was fun, but a bit tiring for an old bloke," he said laughing.
"It's a really nice fleet here, the wind was up, the sun was shining, everyone having a good time and we won IRC and ORC. Summer's here and the committee did a great job," Ross said.
Division 2 went to Peter Farrugia and his Bull 9000, Bullwinkle from Pittwater. Bullwinkle edged out regular foe, Foreign Affair, a Farr 30 belonging to Matt Wilkinson. Third was Neil Padden's Wailea, a Beneteau First 40.7 that is a regular on the podium.
Peter Farrugia: "We got away to a good start and left the Heads with bigger boats. We found pace and conditions were fabulous. We did a few things right. Heading to Long Reef, we had a fairly good run going in on starboard tack, then came out on port and took some time out of Wailea and Foreign Affair - we usually have tough competition with them."
Bullwinkle kept up the pace all the way to Lion Island, then cracked sheets, put the kite up and kept the foot to the pedal.
"The fun time was a starboard gybe doing 16 knots sailing down the Harbour. It was a pretty hairy gybe at the end coming to the finish. We just made it, kept it under control with good crew work. A big thanks goes to our tactician, Tim Meyrick, who made some great calls."
Farrugia continued, "This is a nice way to kick off our season. It starts with the SSORC, then the Pittwater Regatta in February, the Sydney Harbour Regatta in March and then Sail Port Stephens at the end of March."
Joining those from Sydney's major clubs is Clockwork, a Sydney 38 from South Australia, sailing in Division 1. Her owners, Andrew Lloyd and Mary Ann Harvey, are living up to their promise of racing in all the majors on local waters, Queensland, Victoria, Sydney and Hobart - next up is the Rolex Sydney Hobart for a second year running, which will tick all the boxes.
Tomorrow, yachts and crews will be put through their paces through two windward/leeward offshore races starting from 11am.
Sailed in conjunction with the SSORC, the Seven Islands Race tested competitors across two divisions. With a pursuit start off MHYC, first home wins. Division 1 went the way of Peter Charteris' Kailani from Don Colantonio's Trilogy and Derek Minihane's Impulse in a magic day on Sydney Harbour - you couldn't fault it and the scenery on such a day was spectacular.
Division 2 went to Susan Rice's Nawi from Martyn Colebrook's Slac-N-Off and last year s winner, Innamincka, owned by John Crawford.
For full results and all information on the SSORC, please visit: www.ssorc.mhyc.com.au
Di Pearson/MHYC media
Photos by Andrea Francolini
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