The Geelong Week Wash-up

Australia’s oldest and largest keelboat regatta, Skandia Geelong Week kicked off in January with the inaugural Docklands Invitational, an event that saw 20 of the country’s best-known yachts and sailors battle it out.

Sydney’s Ray Roberts, named the 2006 Ocean Racer of the Year, took the honours in the five-race invitational on the Cookson 50 Quantum Racing on completion of the final race.

The first four races were sailed over two days off Docklands’ Waterfront City. Heavy rain marred the final day, at which stage the series was wide open, with at least five yachts in contention.

Some competitors that had started slowly clawed back towards the end, as was the case with Roberts and his crew.

The win was sweet for Roberts, particularly as he only took delivery of the Cookson 50 in late December.

“My crew sailed superbly – they made few mistakes,” he said. “It was a bit of a war of attrition on the course on the last day. Like most, we broke gear.

“We broke our main outhaul and that cost us early on. At the end of the day, the series came down to who was best prepared and who made the least mistakes.”

Consistently high placings of 2-4-1-3-2 gave him the series by four points.

AUDI SERIES
Thirty quality entries from across Australia made for a tough Audi Series, won by Geoff Boettcher in his Reichel/Pugh Hardys Secret Men’s Business, despite an unpromising start. An eighth and seventh place mid-regatta had the South Australian pulling his hair.

“We had the rig re-tuned before coming here and the boat has been dead in the water. Each day we have been fiddling and loosening it and finally we got it right. It had been strung up too tight,” Boettcher said.

At first, ‘Boettch’ and his crew did not realise they’d won. Victorian Chris Dare’s Corby 49 Flirt was sitting in the box seat, with the South Australian winning on count back after scoring a win and a second on the final day.

It was a hard second place for Dare.

“Halfway through the last race we had them (Boettcher’s crew) on toast,” Dare said. “But he got the trophy, we got the boiled toffees. In a lot of ways it was very disappointing. We didn’t know how close it (the series) was until we got back to the dock.”

Early on in the series, it looked as though Bob Oatley’s 98ft super maxi Wild Oats XI would sweep all before her. Three straight line and handicap honours wins later, the show appeared to be over. But following a kite mishap on the big boat in race four, a new contender emerged in the overall stakes. Shogun, a DK46 owned by Rob Hanna representing the Royal Geelong Yacht Club, the host for Skandia Geelong Week, was topping the scoreboard.

Then came the Passage Race – one of the slowest on record. In wafting west-sou-westerlies, the big boats didn’t stand a chance. Not until two miles short of the finish line did the breeze pipe in, by which time the smaller yachts were coming home fast under spinnaker in an east-nor-easter.

It took line honours victor Wild Oats XI close to five hours to complete the course.

Skandia came in about 10 minutes later, followed by Ichi Ban.

The Passage Race was a race for small boats. The overall prize went to Lou Abrahams on his Sydney 38 Challenge, which made the best of every shift and bit of breeze on the course. The win moved Abraham to the top end of the scoreboard.

Four races followed on Corio Bay, Geelong, over two days. Winds of between 15 and 25kts blew, with solid, regular gusts of up to 30kts. These conditions saw others added to the top of the board and, going into the final day, any of the top eight could have won. Disaster struck Wild Oats XI on the final day.

In between the two races on windward/leeward courses, the boat broke its gooseneck. The boom was held by a strop, but that broke, too.

Shogun was also dealt a blow when it blew out its main just prior to race six.

Graeme Troon’s Melbourne entry XLR8 was another contender, but hooked the top mark in race six and was unable to continue the race.

On the final day, John Carle’s Sonata 8 Zilzie Express entered in the Trailable class, but sank under spinnaker.

Her crew was rescued in cold but good condition.

SYDNEY 38s
Lou Abrahams, one of Australia’s most well-known yachtsmen, took home the Morris Finance Trophy for winning the Sydney 38s Division of the Audi Series.

Although Bruce Taylor, a fellow Victorian and Abraham’s greatest sailing rival in the class tried his best, Abrahams’ Challenge outsailed the opposition and won by six points.

AUDI SERIES DIVISIONS 2 AND 3
Rod Jones’ Archambault 35 Alegria, from Victoria, won the Audi Division 2 prize, with Robert Hick’s self-designed 31ft Toecutter from Melbourne second, and True North, Andrew Saies’ Beneteau 40.7 from South Australia in third.

In Division 3, two Adams 10s topped the scoreboard.

Grant Botica, skippering Executive Decision, won by two points ahead of Max Peter’s Topgun. Victorian Gordon Mather came in third place.

NEW PARTNERS
The Victorian government announced a three-year funding agreement in July last year for Skandia Geelong Week.

"With the government's support we have the confidence to promote the event to a wider audience and boldly pursue state, national and world championships," regatta chairman and Royal Geelong Yacht Club vice commodore Graeme Ritchie said. Audi, the German luxury car maker, joined the event this year as 'official car partner', sponsoring the main seven-race Audi Series.

For more information on Skandia Geelong Week, visit: www.geelongweek.com.au