On Friday the 15th of October a fleet of 12 X-Yachts raced for the Sydney City Marine X-Yachts Australia Cup on Sydney Harbour. The conditions weren’t the ones that photographers dream of with clear blue skies and gentle breezes. A brisk 25-30 knot Southerly wind greeted competitors as they approached the start area.

 

Two fleets raced for the their respective X-Yachts Australia Cups, the Sport Class and the Family Class, with results determined by the X-Yachts Rating System. The Sport class sailed two races around windward/leeward courses while the Family class enjoyed one longer race around Sydney Harbour.

 

One unique aspect of Australia is the sheer size of our country. It’s not possible for many owners to bring their boats, so we always have guests who make the trip to Sydney so they can be part of the day. Apart from our interstate owners we also had the pleasure of inviting the Danish Consul-General, Mr. Michael T. Hansen to the regatta as well as his guest Mr. Henrik Meng, a marketing consultant who was in Australia at the time.

Unfortunately the weather was a bit cold and wet, but our Danish guests enjoyed themselves very much.

 

In the Sport class, a battle for supremacy began from the first race between “Toybox” , an X-442 owned by Ian Box, and Tony Kirby’s well sailed X-41 “Patrice Six”. In race one “Toybox” led from start to finish on the water and on corrected time, the 442 relishing the heavy conditions and her crew performing flawlessly.

 

Howard De Torres showed that there’s still plenty of life left in his IMX-40 “Nips-N-Tux” to finish second and “Patrice Six” took third place. With even more wind in the second race “Toybox” were leading the race on handicap after one lap when they suffered from a rare mistake. They had problems dropping their spinnaker and lost valuable time to the fleet who took full advantage of the opportunity. “Patrice Six” took the line and handicap honours in the race from the well sailied “Sextant”, an X-412 owned by Denis Doyle and Lynne Smith with “Toybox” finishing third. By the time the points were totalled there was a tie for 1st place and a tie for 3rd place. So at the end of the tie-breaks the overall results for Sport class were 1st “Patrice Six”, 2nd “Toybox”, 3rd “Sextant”, 4th “Nips-N-Tux”.

 

They may call it the Family class, but the racing was contested very keenly and with the right approach to sportsmanship and the event. Dean Gillies and his crew on the X-43 “Firefly” showed why they won their class at Hamilton Island Race Week last year by starting strongly and slowly extending on the fleet during the long upwind leg to Manly. A small navigation error at the end of the second leg cost them dearly and they surrendered the lead to David McLean’s X-37 “Solveig” with his son Stuart on the helm. Most of the fleet also slipped past at this point, including “Mini Matrix”, X-Yachts Australia’s own X-34 on loan to the “Matrix” crew for the day because their X-41 had not yet returned to Sydney. As the larger boats loomed and threatened to catch them, “Solveig” held on to take line honours in the race and a fantastic effort against many larger boats in such strong conditions.

 

When the X-Yachts rating was applied “Mini Matrix” was declared the Family class winner with “Solveig” second and James Gardiner finishing third onboard his Xc 45 “Xanthia” with our Danish guests as part of the crew.

 

After racing the boats and crews met at Ripples Sydney Wharf for post race analysis. A wide range of beautiful canapés were served with a selection of wines, champagne and of course Carlsberg beer. It was quite a sight to see rows of X-Yachts lined up only metres from the restaurant as everyone enjoyed the hospitality. At the awards ceremony Rob McGrath from our naming sponsor Sydney City Marine and Michael T. Hansen made the presentations. Each owner was presented with a framed photo of their boat from the day and the winners also received their respective X-Yachts Australia Cups and some champagne to celebrate.

 

To celebrate the re-launching of X-Yachts in Australia and to add to the prestige of owning a World Class Yacht, the restaurant was booked out for dinner following the awards ceremony.

 

The owners and crews were treated to a sumptuous 3 course meal where I was able to thank them and our sponsors for their support. To add to the prestige of the event, Ole Lynggaard of Copenhagen joined us as a partner for the evening. It was a wonderful opportunity for two beautiful Danish products, renowned for their design, styling, quality and practicality to come together.

 

Between courses each owner or their partner, whether they sailed or just attended the dinner, were invited to come and choose a gift bag from Ole Lynggaard. Inside one of the gift boxes was a card with the X-65 on it, the holder of that card won a stunning Sweet Drops bracelet. Graham Smith from “Matrix” won the bracelet for his wife Louise. Graham was a popular winner amongst the people there, Louise couldn’t attend as she was home in Mackay with their 3 week old daughter Saskia.

 

The 2010 Sydney City Marine X-Yachts Australia Cup was a great success. None of it would be possible without the support of our owners and crews. I would also like to thank our regatta sponsors Sydney City Marine, Ripples Sydney Wharf, Charter Hall, North Sails, Sydney Rigging Specialists, Evolution Sails and Boatworks. I would also like to thank Vibeke Weinreich Mignard from Ole Lynggaard of Copenhagen for her support, I look forward to our two Danish companies enjoying a long and happy association.

 

Racing Class:

Patrice Six X-41 Tony Kirby

Toybox X-442 Ian Box

Sextant X-412 Denis Doyle and Lynne Smith

Nips-N-Tux IMX-40 Howard De Torres

Great Xpectations X-43 Rod Wills

Gaia X-482 Greg Larkin

 

Mini Matrix X-34 Matrix Syndicate

Solveig X-37 David McLean

Xanthia Xc 45 James Gardiner

Firefly X-43 Dean Gillies

Crossing X-442 Simon May

Viking X-382 Viking Syndicate