Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore 24/25

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2021
Fast starts to Cabbage Tree Island Race for LawConnect and Disko Trooper in gloomy conditions

Fast starts to Cabbage Tree Island Race for LawConnect and Disko Trooper in gloomy conditions

NEWS
03 Dec, 2021 11:17:00 PM

SAILING - Cabbage Tree Island Race 2021 - Cruising Yacht Club of Australia - 3/12/2021 ph. Andrea Francolini/CYCA ©Andrea Francolini

Fast starts to Cabbage Tree Island Race for LawConnect and Disko Trooper in gloomy conditions

Grey & drizzly conditions on Sydney Harbour provided an almost unearthly backdrop for a record fleet of 65 competitors out to test themselves in the 2021 Cabbage Tree Island Race.

The third race in the 2021/22 Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore doubled as the opener to the inaugural Income Asset Management Australian Maxi Championship for the super maxis and mini maxis.

A 10-15kt (gusting 18kt) SSW provided a fast start under kites and Christian Beck's Juan-K 100 LawConnect was quick to pull ahead of the Fully-Crewed fleet, David Griffith's JV62 Whisper, Seng Huang Lee's Dovell 100 SHK Scallywag 100 (skippered by David Witt) & Philip Turner's Reichel/Pugh 66 Alive (skippered by Duncan Hine) in pursuit.

The race to the Heads was a tactical one, with boats on both sides of the course searching for any advantages to be found from stronger puffs as high tide approached at 2003hrs.

The honours for first out the Heads was taken by LawConnect, looking powerful as she pulled ahead of Alive, Scallywag and Whisper into a choppy SE swell and building breeze.

Income Asset Management Australian Maxi Championship competitors Moneypenny, Willow, URM and No Limit were in close tow, with Wild Oats X also in the chasing pack.

Quentin Stewart's Infiniti 46R Maverick 49 looked strong from the start, mixing it with the TP52s, which included Matt Allen's Ichi Ban, the Fully-Crewed overall leader in the Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore, and the defending Blue Water Pointscore champion Gweilo (Matt Donald & Chris Townsend).

Momentum swung in favour of some of the smaller boats overnight, with Shane Kearns' S&S 34 White Bay 6 Azzurro, Simon Kurts' S&S 47 Love & War, and Alex Seja's Sydney 36 Supernova in contention.

In the Two-Handed Division, Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore leader Disko Trooper_Contender Sailcloth (Jules Hall/Jan Scholten), made another impressive start, with Salt Shaker (Peter Franki/Drew Jones), Min River (Jiang Lin/Jean-Charles Ledun), Rum Rebellion (Shane Connelly/Graeme Dunlop) and Crux (Carlos Aydos/Peter Grayson) among the favourites for overall honours.

Keep an eye on the fleet by following the LIVE TRACKER.

You can also watch a replay of the race start.