Adventures in Oz Part 3

The owner and crew of Mistral CAN118 are competing in the Prince Philip Cup (Australian National Championship) which is being held in Sydney. We will be posting regular updates.

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Mistral crew getting a participation plaque made by Ridgeway Dragons. From left to right is Olivier Grebert, Lane Rud, Norman Allyn, Zane Ridgeway and Nicholas Hogg

Day 3 was a lay day, so the third day of racing is now complete, with 6 races in the book.

It was blowing 15 to 20 knots, sunny and warm, so perfect Dragon racing conditions. Tomorrow will be the final day, with winds predicted to be 20 to 25 knots.

Sandy Anderson was in 1st place until she lost a protest on a port-starboard situation, and now is now 4th. She lost the protest to Robert Campbell, who now moves up to 1st, with Gordon Ingate in 2nd place. With a throw out, the order switches, with Gordon Ingate in first place by a point, so it all comes down to the final day.

Gordon, who turns 71 in 74 days (a Nicholas Hogg tidbit from the gala dinner at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron last night) slept in this morning, and his crew was getting a little worried. He showed up at 11:45 for the 12:30 start, and promptly won the first race of the day! It must be nice to have an Olympic medallist Star Boat crew on the boat.

There has been a lot of attrition, with a couple of boats breaking down today in the 2nd race as the winds increased. Richard Franklin ran over his spinnaker and had to drop out as well.

Another Nicholas tidbit is that this is one of only 4 Category 1 Dragon regattas in the world each year. Honestly, when we came down here we had no idea how big this event is, and Nicholas as Fleet Captain has shouldered a lot of the organization.

Sadly Nicholas took ill on the dock this morning and is in the hospital recovering. I sent him our wishes for a good recovery.

We had our best day so far with an 8 and 9. Tomorrows higher winds will be a challenge.

That’s all for today,

Cheers,

Norman