Race 8 & 9 Sydney 38 One Design Divisional Report
After waking to a grey overcast morning with no breeze to speak of for Race eight, we woke to the sound of rain thou a little more breeze for Race nine of the Audi Winter Series 2008. 
'Swish’s sporting a new mast head Kite - Audi Winter Series 2008'
Brooke Paton
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Sunday, 1st June 2008, Race eight of the Audi Winter Series 2008, was one of the most challenging for the series so far and it was made even more challenging with Swish launching their new mast head spinnaker. They were spotted out training in the very variable conditions. Good acceleration was observed from Zen, when they were on the first run to Cannae Point alongside Swish, showing that the extra sail mass is going to be a definite advantage over the long races. This is a new introduction to the class that we are hoping many will embrace, and will provide improvement to our IRC certificates making us more competitive in the IRC fleet.
There was unfortunately an indecent at the first mark, LM2, involving ICOM Utopia and Zen resulting in a Protest flag being raised by Peter (Messo) Messenger. Peter proceeded with lodging the protest back at the club even after Zen completed their 720? turn, at what they thought, was the first available opportunity. The ruling went ICOM Utopia's way and Zen went from 12 to 19 points for the race. The silver lining on this cloud was that as Zen had completed the course and finished with an elapsed time meaning their handicap was still reviewed and not excluded like some were lead to believe.
Race eight provisional results for the Sydney 38 Division were first Geoff Masters and John McCuaig Contentious Issue, second Anthony and Alison Pickering Love Byte, third Karl Strechmann/Peter Mason Blue Chip.
Was it the Sydney 38 fleet saying they are 'fair weather' sailors or the long weekend that was the cause of only 11 yachts being on the 38OD start line last Sunday, 8th June, for the start of Race 9?
This week we observed winds varying 6 to 16 knots which made the overcast conditions more bearable. ICOM Utopia was out sporting a new range of sails which looks to have paid off moving from ninth last week to second this week on scratch. Steve Proud's Swish, was out again this time sporting the class Chairman Geoff Bonus, on board though they did not finish the race.
Yet again the call for an individual recall went out on the Sydney 38 start line, this week to 6175, Love Byte. This time it was heard both via the load speaker from the boat and also via channel 72 as per the new amendment to the sailing instructions.
It was a juggle for positions right to the end with thankfully no incidents to speak of and crew work was vital as ever.
Race nine provisional results for the Sydney 38 Division were first Alan & Tom Quick Outlaw, second Peter Messenger ICOM Utopia, third I & S Guanaria and I MacDiarmid The Tavern.
Overall Provisional Results after race nine are first Anthony and Alison Pickering Love Byte, second Clayton, Foye, Gordon and Peckman's The Goat, third Warwick Rooklyn Ichi Bandit.
Happy Sailing and see you all out there on what they are forecasting to be another wet Sunday.
by Brooke Paton 
Bateau Bay, NSW
