Sydney 38 Old School wins the Pittwater Coffs Series
With a win in the final race, the 20 nautical mile South Solitary Island race, RPAYC’s Mark Griffith’s Sydney 38 Old School won the IRC division in the 2012 Pittwater & Coffs Harbour Regatta, on a count back from MHYC’s Rob Reynolds DK46 Exile.
Old School wins IRC in the 2012 Pittwater & Coffs Harbour Regatta – photo by Damian Devine
Only one of the two races scheduled was completed on the final day of the regatta.
With two wins, a second and a fifth in the four race regatta, Griffith ended on 14 points knowing that he had to win today and, overnight leader Reynolds to place third or worse to have any chance of lifting the coveted IRC regatta trophy. Reynolds who sailed an excellent race today was pushed into third place by a mere 8 seconds, also finished on 14 points. With Griffith’s two wins and Reynolds one in the Pittwater to Coffs Harbour race, meant he was declared the winner.
Another Sydney 38 Mark Hinchley’s Wizzard finished second in the final race to finish on 27 points to pick up third in the regatta.
Wizzard finished second in today’s IRC race around South Solitary Island and third in the regatta – photo by Damian Devine
With a light 5-8 NNE breeze early and a Southerly forecast, racing got underway just before 1130hrs after a general recall in the first attempt to get the race underway. The breeze softened to 3 knots as the fleet made their way up to South Solitary Island before the breeze swung 90 degrees to a 10 knot SSE.
The boats set their kites to round South Solitary to starboard and by the time they rounded the island, the breeze was swinging more to the South and building. When all the boats had rounded and on a reach back to Coffs Harbour, the southerly kicked in and peaked at 20 knots, Pretty Woman took line honours in a little under three hours. On corrected time, Old School won in 3hrs 14mins 18secs by two minutes from Wizzard and Exile, third.
An elated Griffith’s who has now clocked up four regatta wins in a row said, “this is awesome, totally unexpected. We knew we had to sail well today and we did, the crew put in hard today and were hiking all the way until it hurt. We got a good start, sailed well tactically and just put our heads down to get the job done”
“We came here wanting to win the Sydney 38 Division, so to win the IRC overall is a huge bonus. The crew were fantastic and they pushed hard all the way. We’ve been training hard, so this victory is sweet. I think the 500 plus tacks we did getting here in the Coffs race is good training for the Nationals coming up in a couple of weeks. Thanks to the RPAYC and CHYC for a great regatta, we’ll be back next year,” added Griffith.