| SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA-(6-1-2003) Hobart yacht B52 today broke the grip of Sydney boats on the IRC handicap division of the Sailing South Race Week 2003 in winning races four and five in perfect sailing conditions on Hobart’s Derwent River.
Skipper Hughie Lewis and his crew sailed two finely judged races in the Sydney 41 in the 8-14 knot sou’easter, with principal race officer “Biddy Badenach” wisely delaying the start until the seabreeze began to fill in up the river.
With two races to sail tomorrow, B52 is equal with the Sydney yacht Ichi Ban, Matt Allen’s Farr 52, on 351 points. Third overall is another Hobart yacht, Stephen Keal’s Cyclone, with ongoing line honours winner Grundig (Sean Langman) slipping back to fifth in standings.
In race four, B52 won by 2 minutes 20 seconds from Race Week pointscore leader Ichi Ban, third place going to another Hobart boat, Rob Howie’s Beneteau 40.7, Vitesse.
With the breeze freshening to 14 knots for race 5, but still full of “holes”, B52 got home by just 36 seconds from Cyclone, with Ichi Ban third.
Line honours winner, Grundig, was relegated to last on corrected time, not suited by the light breeze in the morning race and then forced take a 720 degree penalty after the start of race five.
Ichi Ban’s tactician Roger Hickman, quickly hoisted the red flag after a dramatic start, claiming the 66-footer had breached the port and starboard rule as she came through at full speed on port tack.
“With our water ballast pumped to port we were committed and Ichi Ban was struggling to make the line on starboard tack,” Grundig’s skipper, Sean Langman said after today’s racing.
“We did not hit her, but we decided we might have…and we took the penalty to exonerate ourselves from a possible racing rules breach,’’ the Sydney Amateur Sailing Club member said.
The PHS division produced two new winners today in Adam Goode’s self-designed Huon 10, Flyin’ Scud and Alf Doedens’ Farr 37, Quality Equipment.
After five races, Flyin’ Scud leads the pointscore with 405 points from Lock on Wood (Peter Geeves) on 400 points and Patrick (Brian Furmage) on 391 points.
The last boat to finish in the Sportsboat division 1, Piggy Malone, a Castle 650 skippered by Brian Lohrey, won race four of that division with the ‘’hot” boats back in the fleet on corrected time.
However, with the breeze freshening for the afternoon race, T 42 (Fraser Read) won by a mere three seconds from Another Girl Another Planet (David Shepherd).
Another Girl Another Planet heads the pointscore with 364 points, just three points ahead of Shoot the Dog (Richard Fisher) on 361 points and Muir Race (Matthew Johnston) on 358 points.
In the Sportsboat Division 2, pointscore leader Alibi II, Rod Williams’ Sayer 25, won its third out of four races and placed second in race five to lead the series on 362 points, ahead of Mischief (Adrian West) on 357 points and Madman’s Woodyard (Adrian Petersen) on 351 points. Winner of race five was Dictator, a Diamond class yacht with wings owned by Mal Innes, the winning margin just 13 seconds.
In the Cruiser Class, the Dubois 25, Fat Albert, skippered by Ben Latham, scored its third successive win to lead the pointscore by 371 points from Innovator (Ian Smith) on 362 points and Binalong (Ernest Target).
The final two races of Sailing South Race Week 2003 will be sailed on the Derwent River at Hobart tomorrow.
| 
