Day 3 – 4th January 2010

(Heat 3)

‘Whim’ sailed by veteran yachtsman Gordon Ingate set the early pace in the south easterly breeze on the third day of the Australasian Championship and doggedly refused to allow anyone to close the gap.  Behind him, Richard Lynn and crew sailed ‘Puff’ from well back of the fleet to claim second place for a short time but was unable to sustain their run.  In the end, it was Mikhail Muratov from Russia who sailed ‘Murka 12’ to second place ahead of Tony Lynn, ‘Red Barron’ in third.  ‘Puff’ finished fourth and continues to lead the leader board.

Day 4 – 5th January 2010

(Heat 4 and 5)

Veteran New South Welshman again showed his finesse in light airs to win Heat 4 of the Dragons Australasian Championship (The Prince Philip Cup) conducted by Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club on the Swan River in a light and fading easterly breeze.

He was followed by Allegra (skippered by Geoff Totterdell) who is also showing a preference for lighter conditions, and Russia’s Murka 11 (skippered by Olga White). 

The Russian pair of Murka 11 and Murka 12 (sailed by Olga White’s husband, Mikhail Muratov) has been enjoying the Western Australian conditions with consistent top 10 placings, and remain in contention for the title.  Murka 12 has already won the Ted Albert Regatta, which preceded this championship.

The afternoon’s race was conducted in a building sea breeze over 5 laps.  With the breeze clocking to the left as the race progressed, all the top contenders favoured the left side of the course on the upwind legs and those who did not paid a heavy penalty.  Hotspur (skippered Ken Stevenson) found himself in the lead during the mid stages of the race, under enormous pressure from the chasing pack, with early series leader ‘Puff’ well back and just within the top ten.

With one lap remaining, Murka 11 took over the lead and from there sailed a very clever race, covering the followers to maintain her dominance to the finish.  ‘Hotspur’ hung on to finish second, followed by Rob Campbell’s ‘Indulgence’ which was in contention throughout.  Series leader Richard Lynn did well in the closing laps to recover to fourth place.