Yachting and the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club 1988 | Page 174

Prince Alfred II ( left ) and Pacific Highway before
the 1986 AmAus Cup challenge .
Ii •
The following series , 1982 , was happier as three new boats were constructed to challenge and the Americans sent out two boats to defend . The Australian fleet consisted of Prince Alji-ed II , a Gary Mulldesigned 6 metre , which was partly constructed in Victoria by Lloyd Fallshaw and purchased by a syndicate of members headed by Ken Hudson , Paul Skov-Christensen , Rod Holliday-Smith and Don Oastler . The boat was finished off by Colin Bate . Frank Tolhurst , Neil Wyld and John Taylor purchased a new 6 metre , designed and built in Sweden by Pelle Petterson . She was namedArunga VI . A late rush was made by another syndicate , headed by
Ord . luuu Juuc ::. s . Richan . I aud Rogc :. r HuUsou , Mu Tunbridge and Peter Hollis . They engaged the young English designer , Ed Dubois , to design Pacific Highway .
The American contingent was St Francis Yacht Club ' s new Mull-designed St Francis VII , with a new helmsman replacing Tom Blackaller . He was John Benrand , a world Laser and Finn class champion with a young crew of mainly Laser sailors . The Fort Worth Boat Club , Texas , represented with Ranger , helmed by the colourful Andy Rose . It may be remembered that Andy was the American tactician Alan Bond used on Australia in the 1980 America ' s Cup challenge .
A great series was held and Anmga VI and St Francis VII won their way into the final . Both competitors were very evenly matched , however the young Americans emerged with a four matches to one win over the Australians and retained the cup for the fifth time . Pacific Highway encountered some measurement problems which no doubt interfered with her campaign , but she did indicate that she had some speed . With this in view , Graham Jones and his team shipped the yacht to America ' s west coast and a challenge was submitted in 1983 . The Americans were without a 6 metre and chartered Arunga VI , which was up for sale in America , and renamed her St Francis VIII . On the Berkeley Circle in San Francisco Pacific Highway showed good speed but lacked in tune-up races when compared with ! he Americans . St Francis won four matches to one .
The 61h challenge took place in Sydney in 1986 . The wealher pattern ! hat occurred during mid-Janu- · ary did not provide the ideal sailing conditions that are usually experienced on the Palm Beach Circle , due to the consistency of Southerly fronts that went lhrough . The elimination series between Irene , representing Sweden and helmed by the experienced Pelle Petterson , and Pacific Highway ( Australia ), steered by Graham Jones , commenced on Sunday , 12 January 1986 . The breeze was from the north-east and averaged 12 knots . Pelle won the start and led at the weather mark by 1 min 24 sec . Pacific Highway gai · ned time on the square run and was able to do this in every succeeding race , however , the Swedish 6 metre was slightly faster upwind and was able to maintain her lead , eventually winning Heat 1 by I min 35 sec . The second race was held in a southeasterly breeze of 14 knots and similar margins were maintained by Irene winning this race by I min 52 sec . Race three , ! he wind was back to north-east at about 10 knots and Pacific Highway was more competitive in the lighter breeze with Pelle winning the race by a smaller margin of 40 seconds .
On Wednesday , a strong 18-25 knot sou ' easter made the seas on ! he Palm Beach Circle much rougher lhan had previously been experienced in the earlier races . Irene won the start by 11 seconds and rounded the first weather mark by a mere 15 seconds . On the subsequent down hill slide , Graham Jones
1111 < 1 m : w had Pacific Hlglrway surfing down the waves at a speed never experienced before .
It was no surprise when Pacific Highway rounded the bottom mark by a huge margin of 1 min 25 sec and continued to forge ahead on the upwind leg . Here , Irene suffered some geai failure . On the second leeward leg Pacific Highway led by 4 min 8 sec and , shortly after , Irene retired from the race .
Critics of the winged keel considered that rough water would be a deterrent to its configuration . The Highway ' s ability to go up wind and run down wind faster than any other 6 metre in the world in such big seas , gave a new meaning to the winged keel . The score was now Sweden 3 ; Australia I .
On Thursday the wind had moved into the north and had a remarkable effect on ! he seas that existed on the previous day . The swell from ! he soulh-east was still evident but there were no wind waves . In ! he lighter conditions Sweden led Australia around the first mark by 48 seconds and this margin was reduced at the bottom mark to a mere 17 seconds . Pacific Highway passed Irene on the next work and led around ! he weather mark on the second time by 23 seconds . This margin was increased to45 seconds for the final beat home . It looked certain for a win to Pacific Highway , however , after rounding the leeward mark a small wind shift put Irene back into the race . Unfortunately , a tack by Pelle was close and Pacific Highway flew a protest flag as a result of this incident . Irene got to the front and crossed ! he line 34 seconds ahead . That evening the Protest Commit-
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