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Hogs Breath Trophy Race - Whitsundays - 2008/03/14 14:58
RUNNING THE RHUMBLINES.
By Ian Grant.
Bob Thompson and Graham Matthews remain poised to become involved in a personal dog-fight to win the Whitsunday Sailing Club Multihull class Hogs Breath trophy over the Pioneer Bay course.
Thompson has pointed the fine three bows of the trimaran Sirrocco in the right direction to hold the series lead on count back after two closely fought races.
However the faster Sirrocco has been placed on notice with the Graham Matthews helmed Brandy Creek Ferry continuing to remain in contact with her much lower .755 handicap rating.
Sirrocco rating .990 has to have the white water spray streaming over her trampoline to build the required time to outpace her slower, older and equally well sailed rival.
Skipper Thompson and the Sirrocco crew mastered the ideal 18 knot breeze to have the edge in the first race beating Brandy Creek Ferry by just 35 seconds while skipper Matthews reversed the result by 33 seconds in race two.
After the two moderate wind races Sirrocco with a total elapsed time of 2 hours 2minutes 43 seconds holds a slippery grip on the trophy with a 2 second faster corrected handicap average.
This narrow lead will again be put to the test in the third race with Brandy Creek having the decided advantage to sail her race in clean wind while the Sirrocco crew will need to sail every available wind variation to the max to retain the overall lead.
John Galloway has survived on his proven tactical knowledge to lead the Division 2 class series with Queensland Marine Services.
A consistent 3-5 score allows skipper Galloway to hold a 2 point lead while True Love (Roger Down) with a 7-3 score heads a very competitive battle for the minor places.
Roger Down like John Galloway possesses an excellent knowledge of extracting the fastest point of sailing in the prevailing winds and this will need to become his tactical protection when the sails are tensioned for the important race 3 as True Love is only separated by 1 point over third placed Sandpiper (Colin Pruden) 11 pts, Crescendo (Stewart Key) 11pts, Africa (Terry Archer) 12pts and Wobbly Boot (Craig Piccinelli) 12pts.
All six crews will be under ‘the pump’ in race three and they will need to have their mind totally focused on sailing smart or be left off the free list to enjoy a hearty steak at the Hogs Breath Cafe in down town Airlie Beach.
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