(Adelaide, Australia)- South Australian based J/111 HOROPITO scored an
impressive 1st in the Royal South Australia Yacht Squadron Nautilus
Marine Winter Series and 2nd overall in the combined series with their
close neighbors The Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia.From the owner Mark Robertson- "We have just completed our second winter series here in Adelaide in our J/111, HOROPITO that was launched in 2012. This 6 race series is a PHS format with a mix of windward leeward and fixed mark races that saw 10-15 combined RSAYS and CYCSA Division One boats turn out fortnightly for some keenly contested racing.
Our crew had been getting progressively more comfortable with the systems on HOROPITO through the summer IRC racing and, with that confidence, had begun to extract more speed and consistent performances as we headed into the winter racing. Our competition was a competitive mix of Sydney 38’s, First 40’s and 45’s and a couple of 47.4 foot Benetaus to name a few, drawn from the combined fleets of the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron (our club) and the Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia. Winter sailing in Adelaide can be challenging from a wind perspective. The normally reliable sea breezes depart and are replaced by either 2 knots or 25 knots depending on the weather systems that roll in from the Great Australian Bight.
We had a great series and were first equal on handicap as we headed into the penultimate 3 lap windward leeward race held on Sunday the 11th August. The day turned out to be a cracker with an 8-14 knot breeze out of the North a sign that spring is just around the corner. After a conservative start we were second around the top mark and gave little away as we worked down-wind to the bottom gate. The longer boats started to eat into us upwind on the second and third legs as the breeze built but we held on to third across the line after sailing a pretty much flawless race in terms of positioning the boat on the course and executing transitions. It turned out that we were giving too much time to a couple of the bigger boats but came away really happy to have secured 1st place in our own club results by 5 points and 2nd place by one point for the overall combined club series series.
It is a credit to the J/111’s great design that an inexperienced group can quickly get up to speed and extract the obvious potential that the boat has. Sailing HOROPITO has been fun and always rewarding. We are now looking forward to summer racing with the Adelaide – Port Lincoln race firmly in our sights."
The Port Lincoln Race is South Australia’s premier ocean racing event. Nearly eighty boats leave Outer Harbour to compete in a 156 nautical mile race that takes them south west to Marion Reef at the foot of York Peninsula along the foot to the spectacular Cape Spencer then North West past Wedge and Thistle Islands and Dangerous Reef to the welcome of Port Lincoln nestled on Boston Bay. For more Royal South Australian Winter Series sailing information
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