Melbourne Winter Series... On A Clear Day

4:16 AM Wed 22 Jul 2009 GMT

'Hotly contested Division 1 start - Over by less than a prodder, but it all counts. - Melbourne Winter Series' John Curnow Click Here to view large photo

On a clear day ...You can literally see for miles, which was unfortunate for the now-for-sale F52 'Goldfinger' who was over the line at the very hotly contested Division 1 start in the 2009 Melbourne Winter series event last weekend.

No worries, as co-owner Kate Mitchell said, 'If you're not over every now and then, you're just not trying!' The three minutes plus they handed the fleet then sealed their fate for the days racing, but they did manage to claw their way back to third over the line.

The breeze was from the NorNor West all day and offered anything from 16 to 26knots, which really did make for a great day's work, even if it was cold with all that air coming off the water's surface. Kites popped out at the top mark for the reaching legs of the triangle and two sausages course that was set. All was looking looking good and the leaders were soon then back to the windward mark which had been moved to accommodate a small shift from 330?M to 340?.

'Calm' led all day on their way to the Division 1 gun and the other TP52 'Cougar II' retired with gear failure. They came back to go match racing, but ultimately had to go to the pen. 'Audi Centre Melbourne' was the real speedster of the day and her owner was seen to be smiling afterwards, so there must have been something going correctly. They seemed to be faster off the breeze than the TPs and that's some encouraging news indeed.

Audi ..New keel placement, far more pace and a smiling owner... - Melbourne Winter Series - John Curnow

Into the bottom mark it was 'Calm' first, then just 20 seconds behind 'Audi Centre Melbourne' with 'XLR8' and Phil Simpfendorfer's new Elliott 44 'Veloce' ahead of the Melbourne Offshore Champion, the DK46 'Extasea'. 'Veloce' actually showed great speed all day, much better than Race One, so I think we can look to good things here.

In Division 2, 'INXS' was ahead of 'Alibi' and 'Gienah', then 'The Secretary', which was pretty much the way it was for the day. The Doyen, King Lou, and the 'Challenge' crew led the 38's.

They had an interesting mark rounding with the fast new 'Wicked'. Sierra Chainsaw and 38? South were also there to keep it a contest until the end.

The top mark was moved and this meant the next runs were squarer. Some tried to aim at the mark with big kites and full mains. Yep there were roundups a plenty. Some even had more than their fair share of them too. No camera onboard and no batteries in the one on the Committee Boat. Doh!

As the breeze settled in more, not less as the BoM had suggested, many boats in the latter half of the fleet did not reef, so the works were often done on their ear. Sails were not let out for the roundings, so the Committee Boat reports there was many a stalled rudder and even a few keels too!

Willow didn’t have much comment afterwards, but was very calm, as you’d expect. - Melbourne Winter Series - John Curnow Click Here to view large photo

MWS Race 2 Line Honours (Div 1 and 2) Results at
www.orcv.org.au/results/2008/2009MWS/02RGrp62.htm .

MWS IRC Results HERE.
www.orcv.org.au/results/2008/2009MWS/SGrp59.htm

MWS AMS Results HERE.
www.orcv.org.au/results/2008/2009MWS/SGrp58.htm

MWS PHS Results HERE.
www.orcv.org.au/results/2008/2009MWS/SGrp60.htm

by John Curnow