Pittwater to Coffs

Friday 4th January 2008 8pm

The Harmony range is new to Australia and therefore a debutante to the Pittwater to Coffs Race & Series. In it's first attempt, the Harmony 42, 'Kick Back' , owned and skippered by RPAYC member Steve Hobbs, took out the PHS Division in the altered course,  2008 Pittwater to Coffs Race.

Steve was absolutely delighted with the win and given it's a brand new boat with only one ocean race under their belt, back in October, it was a tremendous result for this debutante skipper in the alternate Coffs race. He worked extremely hard with his crew to prepare the boat for its first category 2 race.

Steve said, " I don't think we realised just how much work was required to get a tick in the box for everything. I have done the Coffs races a few times before, but this is the first time as skipper. We are absolutely ecstatic to win the PHS Division. "

Kick Back winner of the PHS Division in the Alternate 2008 Pittwater return race.

The Harmony 42, Kick Back, got off to a good start with tactician, Cliff Cunningham, making some good calls as they sailed into the night.

At the midnight sked, Kick Back was down to 2.5 knots as the wind dropped, Steve said, " it was a very frustrating evening, the Harmony weighs 9 tonnes, she's an offshore boat and likes a good breeze to get her going. We won the return leg of the RMYC Port Stephens race back in October where we saw 40-50 knots on the way back." 

As Kick Back rounded the Island, it was clear that she had picked up more places than the crew thought overnight and spirits lifted. The breeze grew to around 20 knots apparent and with cracked sheets and steady 10 knots and occasional 13-14s on the dial, she set off and overhauled a number of more racier machines. 

With asymmetric set to get them into the Botany Bay mark, Kick Back had a close rounding but short tacked and pointed higher than many of her competitor boats. With navigator Don Parker's local knowledge, she managed to clear the bay well ahead and made for clear air to hoist the asymmetric. 

Sailing at 90 deg apparent up the coast towards Barrenjoey, Kick Back was pulling some good numbers when suddenly a squall hit off of Palm Beach, the boat sat up and paid attention and shot off to hit a high of 15.9 knots. Steve said, " We've had the Harmony up to 14 knots earlier in the day, but this time she shot up onto the plane and rocketed forward overhauling two close boats in a matter of minutes as we came up to the finish line." 

The Harmony 42 is a cruising boat, but this time she proved again to be a strong performer offshore. Steve said, "I was very happy with how the boat has performed, the crew worked well together and once the wind kicked in, we had the right conditions to really see the boat fly." 

Steve agreed with the Club's decision not to go to Coffs, although it was very disappointing, he said that, "it was absolutely right, having studied the wind and weather conditions, safety must be an absolute priority, anyway we can always go next year."

Steve Hobbs is also a director of B&H Marine, importers for the Harmony range and what better way to endorse this yachts perfomance with a win in the alternate Pittwater to Coffs race.

An interesting story emerged after the race for Ken Down's Sayer 12 'Wasabi' from the Mooloolaba Yacht Club who crossed the line 2nd in PHS. They found that their hefty handicap wasn't helped with a lump of seaweed  wrapping around their keel, slowing them down for most of the race. They realised that their boat wasn't performing as well somewhere off Norah Head on the first night of the race. Having removed some of the weed mid race through some crafty manoeuvring it wasn't until they were backing her into the pen back at  the RPAYC after the race, that this garbage bag sized of weed floated to the surface. 

 
Wasabit at the start - photo by Peter Andrew - www.outimage.net

Overall in PHS, Kick Back with an excellent handicap, won the PHS Division in a corrected time of 30hrs 29mins 16secs, followed by Sea Quest a further 26 minutes back with Anthony Pickering's Sydney 38 Love Byte in 3rd.

Breaking the results down further, in Division 1 it was Love Byte from Coffs Harbour entrant B52, a Sydney 41 in 2nd and Pete Van Ryn's Farr 44 Sea Hawk  from the Cronulla Sailing Club taking out 3rd spot.

In PHS Division 2,  Kick Back won from Sea Quest with the second Coffs entrant Overdrive in 3rd. Overdrive is owned and skippered by husband & wife team Andrew & Meegan Johnson in their Northshore 380. "Absolutely stoked," was Andrew's comment post race.