A combination of brilliant autumn sunshine and light north-easterly winds provided a spectacular backdrop for the opening day of Sail Port Stephens Super Series.
The Oatley family’s evergreen Reichel Pugh 66 Wild Oats X led the super racer cruiser division from the start off the Nelson Bay breakwall out through the entrance to the Bay and to Cabbage Tree Island.
The course then traced a figure eight around Little and Boondelbah islands, before a nice long spinnaker run back to the finish back in Nelson Bay.
With the breeze fluctuating between four-to-10 knots, Phillip Neil’s Hoek TC78 Drumfire – undoubtedly the most stylish boat – found itself outpaced by its smaller, lighter rivals.
Wild Oats X secured the double: first on the line and on PHS.
Rob Aldis’ Mylius 50 Daguet 2 sailed consistently well to slot into second on PHS, with David Gotze’s immaculate Lyons Cawse 60 Triton rounding out the podium.
Wild Oats X skipper Phi Harmer agreed the conditions favoured the optimised race boats.
“It was a really nice course,” he said.
“There were plenty of manoeuvres but the light winds made it pretty hard for everyone.
“It’s a bit of new era for us.
“Things are changing and it’s the start of something big I think.”
The mini-maxi with the most famous pedigree in Australian yachting is about to notch-up two decades of a highly-distinguished racing career but Harmer says they are far from done.
“It’s due for a few upgrades, which should come online over the next 12 months,” he stated.
“That’s pretty exciting for the whole team.”
It was an auspicious debut outing for the cat division hoisting and unfurling their sails for the first time at Sail Port Stephens.
It boasted a diverse range of multihulls, from a Lagoon 450 to a quartets of Seawind cats and four performance Corsair trimarans.
The light-displacement tris found the conditions to their liking and Michael Meehan and his two crew aboard Multihull Central Starship, a Corsair 760R, took PHS honours and was second over the line, behind Three Sum, a bigger Corsair 880 Sport.
“Normally they (Three Sum) clear off, so it was a fantastic day,” Meehan recounted.
“In 20 knots, we can do 12 knots upwind, downwind we can get to 17 or 18 [knots].
“They are very forgiving.
“I like the 760; I can manage it, we can sail with a full rig in up to 20-25 knots.”
Meehan and every other sailor at Sail Port Stephens – including those aboard 90+ dinghies sailing the first day of the off-the-beach Bay Series – will no doubt be looking forward to another outing on the weekend and forecast stronger north-easterly winds reaching 15 knots.
- Mark Rothfield
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