Celebrating MHYC’s Season of Ocean Racing

Sydney’s Ocean Racing Program for the season of 2019-2020 came to an early conclusion on March 21.  The final race of the CYCA Short Ocean Pointscore, due to be conducted by MHYC in conjunction with Race 5 of its own Ocean Series, was abandoned when NSW Government Social Distancing Regulations were introduced to counter the COVID-19 Pandemic.

MHYC Ocean Series

With four of the six scheduled races completed when the MHYC Ocean Series was declared, the results were incredibly tight in Division 1 - but there was one stand-out in Division 2.

Jack Stening and Colin Gunn’s Sydney 36 Stormaway finished the series clear on top in Division 2, with a four-point lead on IRC and 3 points on PHS.  The minor placings were identical on both handicap pointscores, with Wailea (Neil Padden) second and Rumba (Kerry Burke, Rob Carr & Stephanie Cook) third on IRC & PHS.

It was a different situation in Division 1 however, with tie-breaks deciding the winner in both the IRC & PHS pointscores.

Ian Box’s Xp44 Toy Box 2 and Bob Cox’s DK46 Nine Dragons had both claimed a single race win on IRC during the series but finished on equal points.  Two second places handed the IRC win to Toy Box 2 and Rob Aldis’ Azuree 46 Kayimai was third. 

In the PHS pointscore, it was another tie-break.  Toy Box 2 and Kayimai ended up on equal points and, while Toy Box 2 was more consistent, three race wins secured the top of the series table for Aldis and Kayimai.  Nine Dragons finished third on PHS.

For all the MHYC Ocean Series Results – click here

CYCA Short Ocean Pointscore Series

MHYC was again strongly represented in the CYCA’s SOPS.  Organised by Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, the Short Ocean Pointscore is effectively Sydney’s Interclub Ocean Racing series with Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron and Middle Harbour Yacht Club sharing the race management responsibilities equally with CYCA.

In Division 1, Ian Short’s TP52 Bush Paul Group from CYCA had notched up two race wins and a four-point buffer to claim the series, but the next three spots went to Middle Harbour boats.  Ian Box and Toy Box 2 were second on 16 points, Bob Cox’s Nine Dragons third on 21 points and Rob Aldis’ Kayimai just off the podium with 22 points.  Samarkand (Walter Carpenter) and Dreki Sunnan (Ken Holmes) finished the series seventh and ninth respectively.

Another CYCA yacht took the Division 2 win.  Sean Rahilly & Justin Pelly’s Crosshaven claimed a three-point win from last year’s winners, MHYC’s Jack Stening and Colin Gunn in Stormaway.  Bryan Moore and Shibumi finished sixth.

For all the CYCA SOPS Results – click here

Sydney Harbour Regatta Offshore Divisions

After six offshore races over two days for the Open Division during the Sydney Harbour Regatta, Bob Cox and Nine Dragons took out a commanding eight-point win in the nine-boat division.   Gordon Ketelbey’s TP52 Zen was fourth, Kayimai sixth and Wailea eighth.

In the Sydney 38 Division, David Hudson and Peter Byford’s RPAYC entry Conspiracy claimed the win by a single point from MHYC’s Peter Sorensen and Advanced Philosophy.  Mike Logan’s Thirlmere was sixth.

For all the Sydney Harbour Regatta Results – click here

RPAYC Pittwater Regatta

Hosted by Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club in February each year, the Premier & Performance Series regularly attracts a number of MHYC boats to the Pittwater Regatta.  In the IRC competition, it was RPAYC’s Gerry Hatton and Bushranger who won the series from Bob Cox’s Nine Dragons.  Neil Padden and Wailea were fourth.  It was a different story on PHS handicap though, with Wailea first and Nine Dragons second.

For all the Pittwater Regatta Offshore Results – click here

75th Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

Middle Harbour Yacht Club again provided one of the start lines on Boxing Day for the commencement of this iconic race while there were a large number of club members competing across a number of boats from MHYC and other clubs.  

Carl Crafoord and co-owner Tim Horkings excelled with Sail Exchange this year, placing 2nd in IRC Division 5 and taking the win in ORCI Division 3.  Other notable achievements included:

• Dreki Sunnan (Ken Holmes) 9th IRC Division 4 & 9th IRC Corinthian
• Flying Fish Arctos (George Martin) 5th PHS Division 2
• Galaxy III (Chris Canty) 6th PHS Division 2
• Highly Sprung (Mark Spring) 8th IRC Division 4 and 9th ORCi Division 3
• Maverick 49 (Quentin Stewart & Shaun Lane) 3rd IRC Division 2 & 10th ORCi Division 1
• TSA Management (Tony Levett) 11th IRC Division 5, 6th ORCi Division 4 & 4th Sydney 38
• Zen TP52 (Gordon Ketelbey) 6th IRC Division 1

For all the RSHYR results – click here

Sydney Short Ocean Championships

The SSORC in November is the first offshore regatta of the season each year and attracts entries from Sydney Harbour and Pittwater clubs.  A long passage race on the Saturday is followed by three windward-leeward offshore races on the Sunday.

In Division 1 IRC, Gerry Hatton’s Bushranger from RPAYC built a three-point lead from MHYC’s Nine Dragons (Bob Cox) to claim the win.  Toy Box 2 (Ian Box) was fourth, and Kayimai (Rob Aldis) fifth.  Another RPAYC yacht took the Division 2 IRC win this year. Kieran Mulcahy’s Soozal finished on top of the table ahead of Jack Stening and Colin Gunn’s Stormaway.  MHYC boats filled positions 4-8.

For all the SSORC Results – click here

While our season of ocean racing has been shortened somewhat due to COVID-19, all the major regattas were completed, MHYC again showed its commitment to this area of the sport and club members demonstrated their competitive abilities.

Fingers are now crossed that the Airlie Beach, Hamilton Island and Magnetic Island Regattas up north can proceed ahead of the 2020-2021 season getting underway in September.