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Happy new year all! Since our last update in October, we’ve had a lot of competitive racing on the river, plus a couple of 9.2s escaping for a bit of holiday racing. Our prior report covered the completion of heat one of the Swan River Metro Series, with The Black Smoke (Jeremy Kerr) holding an initial lead in the championship results. Previous years’ series have shown that an early lead doesn’t guarantee anything, and this series has been no exception!

Heat two of the series had the fleet sailing at South of Perth Yacht Club (SoPYC), in their division two Saturday race. The weather brought us a classic Perth summer sea breeze, of 15-20 knots from the south-west. Seahawk (Pat Jones) had a cracking start, with Itinerant (Mark Hansen) chasing at speed. Not too far back, the rest of the fleet jostled for position throughout the race, chasing the slightly oscillating breeze in the upwind reaches.

The two leading boats—Seahawk and Itinerant—kept together throughout the race, Seahawk up front, taking line honours by a mere boat-length ahead after 2¾ hours of racing! Handicap results had Itinerant first, Seahawk second, and Farrlap (Andrew Hossen) third. Their win in heat two brings Seahawk into the lead of the progressive results.

Two weeks later, heat three of the metro series brought us back to SoPYC, running the same course as the previous race, but with a little more west in the breeze this time. Making the spinnaker runs a little less square, this kept the teams on their toes for the kite runs, with big gains to be had by keeping the kites up, and well-trimmed, in these shy angles. Doing so magnificently, Farrlap stole the initial lead from Itinerant, crossing first across the line at SoPYC’s Coffee Point finish. Handicap results for heat three had Farrlap first, Itinerant second, and Lionheart (Warren Westaway) third.

With their run of podium results across all of the series so far, Itinerant now takes the championship lead from Seahawk. Three different leaders from three races so far!

Back at Royal Perth Yacht Club, heat four again saw the fleet sailing with a slightly-more-westerly-than-usual breeze, but with larger variations in wind speed over the afternoon. A few of the fleet took advantage of the shifted wind angle to coordinate some spectacular bear-away kite raises at the top mark, gaining a significant advantage by taking off quickly downwind. Sailing well all afternoon, Seahawk crossed the line ahead of the fleet to secure their second fastest of the season. Elusive (Richard Brisbane-Cohen) found their stride again, winning first on handicap, with Seahawk second and Farrlap third.

After these four heats so far, Itinerant still leads the championship series results, but only by a single point over Seahawk. The next race of the series, heat five back at RPYC, is sure to be a nail-biter! We publish progressive results on our website at https://farr92.asn.au, if you’d like to follow along from home.

Meanwhile, the majority of the Farr 9.2s are still sailing regularly in the Hyatt Regency Wednesday racing series, and have featured well in the results so far – on completion of the first mini-series, Itinerant took first place and Farrlap second. Well done to both.

With the club racing events quietening down over the Christmas/New Year’s break, two of the 9.2 fleet sailed out past the bridges and south to The Cruising Yacht Club on Rockingham Beach, for the 2020 Cockburn Sound Regatta. Igawa (David Atkinson, SoPYC) sailed in division two, and The Black Smoke took a more relaxed approach in the jib and main category. Unlike previous years, the usual south-westerly only appeared infrequently, so the fleets had greater variation in courses over the four days of racing. Overall results had Igawa and The Black Smoke both finish third in their respective divisions.

With the 2020-2021 sailing season underway, the Farr 9.2 fleet is in full swing, with plenty of competitive racing across the thirteen boats. It has been a great start to the season so far, with the pre-season cocktail party, the first Farr 9.2 Metro Series heat for the 2020-2021, and lots of club racing too.

To launch the season’s sailing events, the Farr 9.2 association held the traditional pre-season cocktail party, this year hosted by Angela and Mario Tascone at their lovely home. With tasty South American bites by El Argentino catering, and some impromptu musical accompaniment from the talented Wilna Cornelisse (from not-quite-a-9.2 Reflections), the teams had a great night to celebrate the upcoming season, and a return to the summer competition.

As has become custom at the pre-season party, Helen and James Baker kindly presented trophies for our informal winter series competition, awarded to the teams with the most across-the-line wins within the 9.2 fleet over the Wednesday winter races. Itinerant (Mark Hansen) took a solid first-place, with 11 wins, Farrlap (Andrew Hossen) second and Lionheart (Warren Westaway) third.

RPYC opening day has always been a big event on the 9.2 calendar, not just being the return to Saturday racing at the club, but also comprising the first heat of the all-important 2020/2021 Farr 9.2 Metro Series. As if by schedule, the weather gave us a classic summer south-westerly breeze, aligning the starting leg to a reach downriver. Each with the title-deeds to their sheepstations in hand, the fleet of eight keen 9.2s made their way across the start line to Bricklanding A and B marks. Unfortunately, the team on Elusive (Richard Brisbane-Cohen) may have been a little too keen to start the series, crossing the line early for an eventual OCS on results.

Even though the course had been shortened to accommodate opening day events, the race gave the fleet two reaches and two spinnaker runs, including a moderately shy run from Inner Dolphin Spit to the finish line. With the shorter course, the race saw a lot of close-quarters sailing, and plenty of opportunities for tactical racing. Starting with a small lead at the first mark, The Black Smoke (Jeremy Kerr) took line honours, with Seahawk (Pat Jones) chasing close behind. Handicap results had The Black Smoke first, Seahawk second, and Frenzy (Murray Rowe) third.

Following on from opening day, the Farr 9.2 fleet have been sailing well in the Saturday Division 2 Combined series, with new entrants Dragonheart (John Da Silva), collecting a first in race one (Dragonheart’s first in Divison 2), and Frenzy first in race two. Well done to both.

Wednesday racing has also seen the 9.2s well-represented on the podium, also with new contender Toravean (Michael Hulbert & Ken Stokes) picking up their first first flag, after a great sail in a fresh breeze in race two.

Heats two and three of the Farr 9.2 Metro Series will take the fleet over to South of Perth Yacht club for two Saturdays in November, then returning to RPYC in early December. For the full schedule and results, check out the other posts on this website.