A spectacular rain and wind squall gave the fleet a wake-up call with boats reporting wind speeds of 25-26 knots from the 6 knot east nor’easterly breeze that marked the start.
Ray Entwistle’s J/122 JACKPOT, last year’s Grant Thornton Short Ocean IRC Pointscore winner, started the season where he left off – taking the IRC Division 1 win with David Forbes’ Kaiko 52 Merlin taking line honours. Tim Cox’s DK43 Minerva finished second in IRC Division 1 with Merlin third.
"I'm over the moon with today's win," said Ray Entwistle, owner of JACKPOT. "After a fickle start, we relished the challenging course and despite getting wet through had a great day out for the first race of the season. The wind varied from 5 knots to 26 knots, with a massive rain squall which came through mid race, reducing visibility to 50m, with 30degree wind shifts. On the final downwind leg heading back into Sydney Harbour, we were surfing at 14-15 knots, with the 155sq.m kite." For more Australian sailing info