The Yachtsman 2016-2017 RPAYC Yachtsman 2016-2017 | Page 52

W AT T L E C U P
TENACITY WINS WATTLE CUP
T
he handicapper is doing something right
when the top four Couta Boats finish
the Wattle Cup point score tied on equal
points as they did on Sunday October 16
after a smoky passage race to Mackerel
Beach on Pittwater’s western shoreline, then around
Scotland Island to the finish.
Don Telford and his Tenacity crew also know
something about the right formula after picking up a
third Wattle Cup overall win from the four the Royal
Prince Alfred Yacht Club team has contested.
Tenacity’s prowess comes to the fore in stronger winds
and Pittwater’s gusty NNEers on Saturday and nor’west
winds on Sunday provided the perfect fuel.
Two victories and a fourth in Saturday’s three
windward/leeward races set Tenacity up to break the
final Wattle Cup pointscore deadlock with Kathleen
Mary (Kelly Holder, RMYC), Cariad (James George,
RPAYC) and Sylvia (Larry Eastwood, RPAYC), when the
points from all four races were tallied.
“To have four boats finish on the same points and win
on a countback is extraordinary, but it makes it difficult
to be in among a fleet that tight,” Telford said. “Tenacity
is a really quick boat with a bit of wind and we did have a
very good crew … John ‘Steamer’ Stanley, Peter Hemery
and Col Anderson from Doyle Sails up from Victoria for
two of the four weekend races.”
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YACHTSMAN
Telford thanked the RPAYC’s race management team
led by PRO Elaine Fowler for another successful Wattle
Cup raced against the dramatic backdrop on Sunday of
heavy smoke from a back burn in Ku-ring-gai Chase,
including multiple helicopters buzzing around all day
water bombing the fire to keep it in check.
First time Couta helmsman/skipper David Bray
steered Cariad for owner James George. Afterwards Bray
could feel the physical effect of driving five tonne of boat
around Pittwater. “I’m glad I’m going to the gym today
to stretch out,” he said. “I terrorised a few people; got hit
by one boat and I hit another, plus we did two 360 degree
penalty turns. The boat I tapped eventually won line
honours in that race, so at least we were up near them.”
“The boats are very interesting, very reliant on crew
coordination and there’s a lot of effort trying to balance
the helm, especially in changeable Pittwater. When
you don’t get it right, it really bites you,” added Bray,
who prefers to claim Cariad’s Wattle Cup third overall
as “equal first”, given the points tie with Tenacity and
Kathleen Mary.
Mid-October 2017 the Wattle Cup will precede
the first class Australian Championship to be staged
outside the state of Victoria, where the Couta Boat class
was developed and used for fishing in the Sorrento-
Queenscliff and Victorian west coast regions, between
1870 and the 1930s.
LISA RATCLIFF