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Whitsunday SC News - 2009/05/05 20:10
RUNNING THE RHUMBLINES.
By Ian Grant.
Craig Piccinelli skippered Wobbly Boot clear of a tactical ‘minefield’ to claim a two point win in the five race Cumberland Charter Yacht Trophy series over the Whitsunday Sailing Club course on Pioneer Bay last week.
The win became a special reward for the Wobbly boot crew who appeared to have no answer to matching the joint leaders Queensland Marine Services (John Galloway) and Idle Time (Kevin Fogarty) when the trio faced up for the final.
Several local experts predicted that the final would turn into a tactical arm wrestle particularly as all three skippers have the reputation of being smart tactician with an excellent knowledge of wind and current factor.
Queensland Marine Services predictably became the pre-final favourite with her 1-9-2-2 score while Idle Time 7-2-4-1 and Wobbly Boot 5-6-1-3 were considered the next best when the sails were tensioned for racing when a variable south east breeze blew across the Whitsunday Passage with a lighter breeze on Pioneer Bay.
However the form guide was blown apart when the normally reliable Queensland Marine Services crew crashed out of contention with a course time of 1 hour 6 minutes 26 seconds forcing them to finish 18th on corrected handicap while Idle Time also spent some time ‘glued to the water’ sinking her chances with a mediocre 15th.
Wobbly Boot was also on shaky waters when the lower handicapped Surefoot (Rod Sawyer) Africa (Terry Archer) and Rising Farrst (Tim Osborne) made the most from the breeze which blew over the deck before the crafty Rod Sawyer eventually steered Surefoot to a 1minute 21 second win over Africa with another 14 seconds to Rising Farrst.
Ultimately these places the best by Surefoot, Africa and Rising Farrst in all five races helped Wobbly Boot who also struggled to finish seventh to secure her overall win with 22 points while Sandpiper 24 points and Idle Time 29 points filled the minor places.
Champion Division 3 skipper Rob Davis found out there was no margin for even the slightest error when Breakaway became involved in a tensioned packed line honours match race with Peter Mitchelson’s Lorna Rose Too.
Breakaway failed to live up to her name leaving skipper Rob Davis little chance to protect his slender 2 point lead when her crew entered into a battle of the mind games with the equally talented Lorna Rose Too crew.
They were simply possessed with their own private match race with the Lorna Rose Too crew needing to apply a wind shadow on Breakaway or miss any chance of salvaging some value from their lower handicap rating.
Both crews were relatively happy to become involved in their own race with in a race understanding that the result would decide the Cumberland Charter Yachts champion for 2009.
They had little concern when Roger Boast cleverly steered Serendipity to an impressive handicap win however Peter Mitchelson remained relentless in maintaining a tight cover on Breakaway to eventually win the duel by 1 second to secure the important second place by 13 seconds to win the series overall on count back from Brian Fleming’s Concubine with Breakaway another half a point away.
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