About Time takes out IRC handicap honours in 2009 Pittwater to Coffs Race
Sunday 4th January 2009
By Damian Devine
About Time, Julian Farren-Price's Cookson 12 from the
CYCA, has taken out the coveted IRC overall handicap
honours in the 2009 Pittwater to Coffs Harbour Yacht race. Moksha, a Hanse 540,
the largest and heaviest boat in the fleet skippered by RPAYC's Richard Rowe,
was awarded victory in the PHS Division.
After finishing 4th on handicap in the Coffs race in
2007 and 2nd in the series behind Le Billet, it was "about time" victory came
their way. Julian Farren-Price was happy
to be awarded the honours in a corrected time of 30hrs 21mins 48secs.
Speaking from the Coffs Harbour
marina this morning, Julian spoke of the victory, "We're delighted with the
win, we haven't raced Coffs in 2 years. Our objective was to win this race on
handicap and have a good race against our good mate Bill Ebsary and Le Billet.
The conditions favoured the Cookson better than the Beneteau in this race, so
we're absolutely thrilled with the win."
About Time, Julian Farren-Price's Cookson 12 from the CYC , overall IRC winner in 2009 Pittwater to Coffs Race - photo by Christophe Launay
"It was a hard race and one of the toughest and
wettest I've been in. With the angle of the wind and the reaching conditions
into pretty lumpy seas, there was plenty of water pouring up the side. But the
win makes it all worthwhile."
Farren-Price added this about the race, "It was a very
competitive race with a great field from the Marten 49 down to the Bull 9000 so
it made the race for handicap honours an open and interesting one. We were all
in the same weather so it made for a very fair race. We're looking forward to
having a good race tomorrow to hopefully take out the series, so we'll be going
full throttle that's for sure," Farren Price said.
Unfortunately for the Hudson/Murphy/Lockley Farr 45,
Pretty Woman, who finished 2nd over the line by a mere three and a half minutes
behind Perpetual Mocean, they also got the silver medal on handicap, missing
out by just over 7 minutes on corrected time from About Time. Rounding out the
podium was previous handicap winner of this race in 2002 and consistent campaigner,
the Staples /King Murray 37 Dark & Stormy Witch, who relished the reaching
conditions. She finished with a corrected time of 30hrs 33mins 42 secs and in
doing so also took out IRC Division 2 honours.
In IRC Division 1, it was About Time, Pretty Woman with the Farr 40 Tidetech E11even representing the RQYS, owned by David Elliot. E11even is the former Splash Gordon.
In IRC Division 2, the top three were Dark & Stormy Witch from two Sydney 38s Preddytor, skippered by Peter Edwards from the Cronulla SC and Steven Proud's Swish from the RSYS.
Turning to PHS, Richard Rowe's Hanse 540, Moksha,
claimed its first ocean race victory of any distance by winning the PHS
Division by just under two hours over the Swan 40, Byzance out of the Balmain
Sailing Club skippered by David Saunders with Michael Martin'sSayer 11.9 Frantic representing the Lake
Macquarie Yacht Club picking up the bronze.
Having covered a lot of cruising miles since taking
ownership in August 2007 and with all the cruising comforts down below, the
reaching conditions in reasonable breeze were always going to suit Moksha's
waterline length once this heavy boats momentum got going.
Moksha, the Hanse 540 winner of PHS Division at the start of the race - photo by Damian Devine
Richard Rowe aboard Moksha was thrilled with the PHS
win. "It's a fantastic feeling for us to win and for the seven crew on board,
two of whom had never sailed with us before.The reaching conditions, reasonable breeze and lumpy seas suited the big
boat. We just ploughed through it. We've got a pretty casual racing crew and we
just had a good time racing up the coast. We're looking forward to the Solitary
race tomorrow although I don't think we'll do so well with the forecast.'
By Division in PHS, in Division 1 the results saw Moksha in 1st, Frantic in 2nd witth the Dibley 46 from the CYCA, skippered by John Cameron in 3rd.
In Division 2, the podium had the Swan 40, Byzance, the 3rd last finisher crossing the finish line at 11:02pm last night on top from Freya, a Hanse 411 from the RSYS and the Coffs Harbour Yacht Club's Andrew Johnson's Northshore 380 sports Overdrive in 3rd, replicating the position he attained last year.
"It was a bit of a drag race and the first night was really interesting in the strong pressure," said Andrew and "we're pleased with the result and already looking forward to coming back next year."
The Solitary Island offshore race, kicks off at 12pm in Coffs Harbour
in forecasted light 8-10knots ESE breeze under clear, blue skies. The race
makes up the two race series and the series winners will be declared at the
prize giving tomorrow evening at the Coffs Harbour Yacht Club.
