NSW States Highlights

An electrical thunderstorm brought an abrupt end to the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Rolex Trophy and the Sydney 38 NSW State Championships, but it made little difference to the  winner, Mark Griffith with his Old School who had led the from Day 1.

Fortunately, Principal Race Officer Denis Thompson had put two of the three scheduled races to bed before the Manly Circle waters turned to glass and a big southerly buster blew the light nor’ easter to pieces.

Rain poured down, the thunder cracked threateningly and lightning hit the course, along with 30 knots of wind, before it too, blew away.

“It was prudent to end the series,” Thompson succinctly said. “We had eight of the nine races sailed; better to be safe,” he said.

Old School won six of the eight races sailed, starting with a third and ending the same way, prompting Griffith to comment: “We could have started better and finished better, but otherwise it was good. We’ve done a lot of work and I have a strong team, so I was confident going in. We had good enough boat speed to get us out of tight spots.”

Realising they had enough in the bank to claim the Rolex Trophy and win the NSW Championship after Race 7 was completed, Griffith said: “We knew we had it won, so we played it pretty safe in Race 8. We conserved our sails for the nationals, which we’ll sail just after we do the Pittwater-Coffs race.

Coming off wins in the Sydney 38 One-Design Pittwater Regatta and the Sydney Short Offshore Racing Championship two weeks ago, Griffith from Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club said he was not surprised by their win.

Gordon Ketelbey sailed Zen to second place and won ‘Boat of the Day’ after scoring a second place in Race 7 and finishing off with a bullet. Zen finished 14 points adrift of Old School, while CYCA entry, Calibre, owned by Geoff Bonus and Richard Williams was third, a further 14 points behind.

Towards the end of the second race, winds became very flukey and shifty before dying off completely. In fact, Denis Thompson had to change the course between races and during them for the Sydney 38s.

Griffith said he felt “confident’ going into the nationals. “We didn’t compete last year, but we finished second in 2009, and now I’m going for the number one spot. I’ve got a couple of very good sailors on board and we’ve been training hard,” he said, referring to tactician Steve McConaghy and mainsheet hand Bruce Savage.

Attached photograph (dec 2011 067 – credit Anna Cross) – Sydney 38’s race towards the storm to get the wind in the NSW State Championships 2011.

A total of nine boats raced the series, which had good clean tight results with four boats within three points of a podium finish.