Apocalypse in the Pittwater to Coffs Harbour Race .
Line honours went to Evelyn and first on IOR wenl io Peler Nicholsen ' s Middle Harbour Exprers . Peter was supponed by Steve Merrington , Angus Gordon . Garry Gudmunson , Allister Pran , Alf Johnson , Shay McQuade , John Jennings and Bruce Killingworth , to beat Szecl1wan ( representing the Middle Harbour Yacht Club ) by a small margin . Third on IOR was Granny Knort Ill , helmed by Mike deBerg , also representing the RPA YC .
Obviously fired upafteragood resull in the Ocean Race the RP A YC members put together a fine per · formance in the Bl Admiral ' s Cup Series . The team
of Middle Harbour Express , Foxtrot and The Syndi · cate staved off a determined effort by the Middle Harbour Yacht Club and succeeded for the fourth consecutive year in retaining the El Admiral ' s Cup . Middle Harbour Express ' s performance in this se · ries of races ensured for her the title of Top lndivid · ual Yacht
It was most pleasing to see such a good number of yachts representing the RPA YC . Dick Faine , on board Norm Kiddle ' s Pabati IV , won the Navigator ' s Trophy for guessing their ET A from Smokey Cape to the finish . The main results were :
Line Honours Second Third
IOR First Second Third
Division Winners A B c
D
Evelyn Chasseur Courtisane
Middle Harbour Express Szechwan Granny Knott lll
Inch by Winch
Middle Harbour & press Flying Circus
Vitema11 C
A record 79 entries were received for the 1986 Coffs Harbour Yacht Race . The series was broken inro lOR and Arllitary with two divisions in each of the above categories . The number of entries and starters in these divisions was as follows :
IOR Division Entries Starters
Division I 20 18
..
2 24 23
Arbitary Division |
|
|
|
Division J
..
2
|
18
17
|
14
17
|
The starting line was laid in Broken Bay and the starter ' s gun punctured the air at 1130 hours on Sa . turday 27 December 1986 . There was a moderate south-east to souLherly breeze which freshened to approximately 18 knots offshore . There was a bad
Ice under Barren joey . Apollo ' s sailing master , Sandy Schoefield , must have had his eye on this hazard as he kept well clear . Apollo made the best of the stan and this must be attributed to skilled helmsmanship .
OffTerrigal , Sryrwas close on Apollo ' s heels and sbe stayed there until Seal Rocks . Off Seal Rocks a decision must be made to go inside or outside the Rocks . Helmsmen generally tend to go inside in order to avail themselves of the contrary currents outside which flow strongly from the north . Inside the Rocks there is a good chance of finding a back eddy flowing north , but also sometimes very little breeze . Before the Rocks . however , Apollo decided to go to seaward . This proved to be an unfonunate tactical error as she was thrust back by the heavy southerly set whereas the yachts inside Seal Rocks were greatly helped by a contrary northbound cur · rent and they held their air . Apollo is not to be blamed- $ he is a very big boaL
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