racing

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.

This is the first of our Farr 9.2 reports for the website – originally published in the RPYC magazine, we’re now including them here too.

With the 2019/2020 racing season now well underway, we’re also at the half-way point of the Farr 9.2 metro series, with four of eight races completed. As it stands now, the series results are far from certain, with different a championship winner in each race. After heat one, Lionheart (Warren Westaway) finished first and fastest, so leading both championship and consistency results for the series.

From there, heat two took the fleet to South of Perth Yacht Club to join their Saturday races. The regular summer sea breeze was absent, replaced by a shifting northerly, the start team adjusting the line to suit the conditions. With their home-club advantage on the course, SoPYC boat Igawa (David Atkinson) found the favourable winds and crossed the finish line first, with Elusive (Richard Brisbane-Cohen) very close behind. Handicap results had The Black Smoke (Jeremy Kerr) at first, Lionheart second, and Igawa third.

After heat two, the championship series lead was in the hands of Itinerant (Mark Hansen), sailing consistently well over the two races so far.

Heat three also had the fleet sailing out of SoPYC, with the rest of the teams now a little more accustomed to the courses, and familiar south-westerly winds returning. After establishing a lead in the first downwind run, Farrlap (Andrew Hossen) found their pace and pulled away from the fleet to finish first by almost two minutes in front of chasing boat Elusive. Handicap results had The Black Smoke first, Farrlap adding a second flag to their collection for the day, and Elusive third. Lindsay Preece from Ironbark Photos caught some great shots of the race, a few of which we’ve included here.

With their line honours result in heat three, Farrlap now takes the championship series lead, but only by a single point ahead of Itinerant, and Elusive only a further point behind.

Heat four returns the fleet to RPYC, on a hot Saturday, with a south westerly establishing before the start to bring some relief from the heat. The Black Smoke built a small lead early in the race, carrying it over the finish line, only a handful of seconds in front of pursuing Farrlap. Despite breaking the start and going back around, Elusive recovered brilliantly to finish fourth, one second behind Itinerant. Handicap results had The Black Smoke first, Frenzy (Murray Rowe) second, and Farrlap third.

The over-the-line results from heat four meant that Farrlap consolidates their lead – but only by one additional point – over Itinerant, and Elusive close in third by another two points. At this stage, the series is still very much in contention! We’re all getting set for a competitive heat five, to be held early in the new year.

As a bit of a holiday from the Swan River racing, a couple of the 9.2s had migrated south for the Christmas/New Year’s break, participating in the Cockburn Sound Regatta, hosted by The Cruising Yacht Club. Igawa had their full wardrobe of sails out to compete in division two, taking fifth place in a very diverse fleet. The Black Smoke took it a little easier by keeping it to jib and main only, taking third place in JAM fleet 3.

The Farr 9.2 fleet are always keen to welcome newcomers – both for serious sailing and not-so-serious social events. If you’d like to join one of our boats, a few teams are looking for new crew – either for occasional fill-in spots or regular race commitments. Email the Association on secretary@farr92.asn.au to get in touch.