Wind gods in force at Nautilus Marine Insurance Sydney Short Ocean Racing Championship
Every sailor loves a bit of breeze, but some bit off more than they could chew on Day 1 of the 2025 Nautilus Marine Insurance Sydney Short Ocean Racing Championship (SSORC) and the Seven Islands Race, when winds of 44 knots registered causing officials to shorten the Seven Islands Race today.
A 40 knot north-nor/westerly hit Sydney Harbour just before the 10am start of the SSORC at Steele Point, Vaucluse, but eased to average 18-24 knots offshore moved to the north-west before backing to the west in the afternoon, with the SSORC fleet finishing their offshore race in Watsons Bay.
The two divisions in the Middle Harbour Yacht Club (MHYC) hosted two-day SSORC flew down the Harbour, sprung sheets, big gusts making their rides like bucking broncos, with a couple airborne. Conditions gave everyone, including those entered in the 2025 Rolex Sydney Hobart, a solid work out.
Sean Langman’s Back 2 Black, recently arrived in Sydney after being bought by Sean Langman in Europe and representing the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia at the Admiral’s Cup in the UK. The GP42 won Division 1 today, handling the conditions well to beat Justin Mulkearns’ RP52 Virago and Darryl Hodgkinson’s Carkeek 40, Victoire in the Lion Island Race.
“It was a pretty fresh westerly (averaged 18-22 knots), but a pretty flat sea state,” Back 2 Black’s Josh Alexander said this afternoon. “It was very gusty at times - we saw up to 35 knots.
“This was our very first race since the Admirals Cup,” Alexander said. The boat’s only just got back to Australia. The mast only went back in the boat on Friday, so we’re very happy with how we went against our smaller boat competition, like Victoire. We’re also happy to go out and not have any breakages,” finished Alexander. Back 2 Black is one of a few yachts in this fleet headed to Hobart in the 80th race on December 26. Nine of their 10 Sydney Hobart crew were on board today.
Division 2 went to Steve Watson’s J/130, Ragtime from one of three double handed entries, the J/99 Disko Trooper, sailed by Jan ‘Clogs’ Scholten and Alex Knight. Third went to Neil Padden’s Beneteau 40.7, Wailea.
“We were going so fast I thought was lunchtime and it was only 11 o’clock! It was pretty crazy out there. However, we managed to get back without anything breaking today,” Watson said of the conditions.
“We had an OK start and a reasonably conservative sail plan. In the past we’ve carried more sail than we should have. We shook the reef out of the main when we got out the Heads, it got a bit soft off North Head. But we put the reef back in further up the course and kept chipping away at the other boats, including the Sydney 38s, which are our main competition.
“We delayed setting the kite until we were off Barrenjoey, as the bullets were too much before that. We carried the kite further than anyone else and when we got rid of it, we had a nice three -sail reach to the finish at Watsons Bay.”
An honest Watson conceded: “We’ve had a series of underwhelming results and a few breakages of late. The SSORC is an important part of our Sydney Hobart training. It’s been beneficial, because we’ve been getting it wrong, getting bad results and now we’re peaking at the right time.”
Back 2 Black was not the only yacht Hobart bound and making its Australian debut, Olympian Matt Hayes’ spanking new Italia 12.98, Veloce, also raced in Division 1. Edward and William Cox are also benefitting from the SSORC and headed to Hobart after recently selling their Minerva buying a Ker 40, also named Minerva.
Division 2’s competition includes three high profile double handed crews: Disko Trooper, Ian Smith/John Cross with Jupiter and Edward Curry Hyde/Lincoln Dews on Toucan, the latter two are also Sydney Hobart entrants.
Seven Islands Race
Huge gusts swept Sydney Harbour. Up to 44 knots equated to thrills and spills and a shortened course when officials took three peeks at the western side of the Harbour Bridge and much to their consternation, found a steady 42 knots, so it was more a ‘one island race’.
Division 1 went to Peter Charteris’ Sydney 36, Kailani, from Brian Lees’ Adams 10, Contentious, while Division 2 was claimed by John de Meur’s Jeanneau SO 349, Elysium. Newcomer to racing, Shane Foley and his crew, acquitted themselves well by finishing second with the Dufour 36 Performance, Boudicca - a baptism of fire.
It was a bit much for some. Four elected not to start and three retired, among them the perfectly named, considering today’s conditions, ‘Wirrajurnd’.
“We sailed conservatively, no spinnaker,” Charteris said this afternoon. “We saw gusts of 42 knots, but realised we could manage it, so kept going. Some were out of control”
“The work from Shark Island to Port Dennison brought the race to an end. It’s not that often you need to manage those types of conditions. You really need to keep your eye on things, because of the sheer wind from one gust to the next, you have to watch you’re not sailing by the lee,” he said.
Division 2 winner, De Meur confessed, “It was pretty hairy out there, we put a reef in the main when we went around Shark Island. Then we put another one in to be on the safe side. A couple of times we were flattened, but came back up again!
“I’m glad the race was shortened where it was, as I didn’t fancy tacking up the Parramatta River in the huge gusts. We had a good race though, a good run back to the Club. I’ve done this race when it was a drifter; it was a huge contrast today,” de Meur ended.
The 48th SSORC concludes tomorrow after two offshore windward/leeward races are sailed from 10am with the starts and finishes in the vicinity of The Sound.
For full results and all information, please visit: www.ssorc.mhyc.com.au
Di Pearson/MHYC media
Photos by Andrea Francolini....
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