and didn ’ t take too many risks . We had nice transitions too ,” he ended .
It ’ s been a while since Ichi Ban has been beaten on the race track , but this time around , Matt Allen had to settle for sixth place overall . Richard Hudson ’ s Pretty Woman and Carl Crafoord ’ s Sail Exchange also finishing in front of her in fourth and fifth overall respectively .
RPAYC short-handed entry , Transcendence , sailed by father and son , Martin and John Cross , also sailed well throughout . The Jeanneau Sun Fast 3300 finished eighth overall and in doing so , won the Short-Handed Division from Intiy ( Marc Depret and Rouzbeh Katrahmani ) and Rum Rebellion ( Shane Connelly and Graeme Dunlop ).
“ My son and I are new to double-handed sailing . We ’ re on a steep learning curve .,” admitted Martin Cross , who is doing well at club events at the RPAYC . “ This was our first go against outside competition .”
On winning , Cross said , “ I ’ m lucky to have a good boat that goes well in reaching conditions . It ’ s not optimised to go to windward , but in the end we managed to get the gennaker up and the boat kicked up its heals . When we got around Smoky Cape , we experimented with a J2 gennaker and decided to go offshore , which brought us more wind .
“ On the final leg to Coffs , we listened to Clouds ’ ( Roger Badham ) weather forecast . What he said is exactly what happened , so we had a very quick transition through the westerly and held the gennaker all the way to the finish .
“ It ’ s satisfying for us to win early in the learning curve . It was also a good father and son bonding session . We ’ re very pleased , as a new boat , to do so well .”
Gordon Beath ’ s Roamance took multihull line and overall honours . The Chamberlin 14 , representing Cairns Yacht Club and a new member of the RPAYC , was the lone multihull in the race . The normally live aboard boat was stripped down for the race .
“ It was a great race for us made better with the result against our monohull friends . It ’ s all about sailing for the team and we loved it ,” Beath said .
The Club Marine Pittwater to Coffs Harbour Yacht Race presentation took place at Coffs Harbour Yacht Club ( CHYC ) today . In closing , the 2022 event Rear Commodore of Racing at RPAYC , Robert McCelland and Commodore of CHYC , John Wait , welcomed competitors to join the 2023 race on 31 March , 2023 . In closing , McClelland said , “ Races like this don ’ t just happen . We have a great team of volunteers from RPAYC and CHYC helping behind the scenes . We thank them , and Coffs Harbour Yacht Club Commodore , John Waite , who has either sailed in or been behind the scenes of every Coffs race .”
McClelland went on to thank volunteers from the Coffs Harbour Yacht Club and Craig and the Coffs Harbour International Marina staff . He thanked all involved in running the race , from those at RPAYC and CHYC , to Marine Rescue and Coffs Harbour Water Police .
“ Thanks go to our sponsors , Club Marine and Fevertree ,” he said .
Coffs Winners from “ Blackjack ”; Mark Bradford ( L ) & Adam Beashel holding the Line Honour Bell Trophy
74 The Alfred ’ s Annual 2020 - 2022