Intrigue and Invincible one-all in Crown Series Bellerive Regatta

8:12 AM Sun 28 Feb 2010 GMT

'War Games shredded her kite in blustery conditions on Day Two, retiring from the regatta - 2010 Crown Series Regatta Bellerive Yacht Blub' Jane Austin Click Here to view large photo

The cross-river Division 1 ratings clash between River Derwent yachtsmen Harold Clark from Bellerive Yacht Club and Don Calvert from the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania finished one-all today at the end of the hugely successful Crown Series Bellerive Regatta.

Calvert, steering his Castro 40 Intrigue regained the traditional IRC rating title from Clark, skippering his Farr 1104 Invincible, but Clark reversed the outcome under the new AMS scoring system. The Performance (PHS)
scoring saw a fine win by Gary Smith and Geoff White's Bakewell-White 45, The Fork in the Road, which also claimed line honours in six races of the three day regatta.

More than 210 keelboats, trailables, sports boats and off-the-beach dinghies, skiffs and catamarans contested the Crown Series Bellerive Regatta, with the River Derwent turning on demanding weather conditions on Saturday and Sunday. Southerly winds reaching 25 knots kicked up steep short waves on the river on Saturday and today the boats had to contend with northerly winds shifting in direction and strength from 10 knots to gusts of 30 knots.

While dinghies capsized or dashed for shelter at the Bellerive Yacht Club in Kangaroo Bay, the keelboats and high-performance sports boats endured spectacular broaches, broken spinnaker booms and rudders, near capsizes and
even crew (and one owner/skipper) overboard in the heavy weather. But most of the several hundred crew members returned to the hospitable Bellerive Club for post-race entertainment and prizegivings.

Prominent Bellerive YC member Hughie Lewis had more than enough drama for the weekend. On Saturday, when a big broach rolled his Farr 40 Euro Central on its beam ends, he, his wife and a couple of other crew slid overboard.
Fortunately, they held onto railings and lines and were quickly recovered.

Today, just winning the first race for the Farr 40, he received a phone call to say there was a fire at his marine business premises at Cambridge Park. He called for a rescue boat to run him ashore, but after subsequent calls to
say the fire brigade had the blaze under control and senior staff were at the premises, he elected to stay aboard the yacht, finishing second in the final race.

Euro Central finished third overall in the Farr 40 division won by Andrew Hunn and Lloyd Clark's Voodoo Chile on 11 points from POW (Craig Clifford) on 14 points and Euro Central on 19 points. The series ended with a spectacular last race broach by Voodoo Chile as a 30 knot gust swept down from Mount Wellington. Voodoo Chile crossed the line third but had a sufficient points margin to take the series.

Division 1 was closely fought through the regatta, which began with a non-spinnaker race on Friday evening and continued with three full-on windward/leeward races on Saturday and two today.

Going into today's final races, sailed on flatter waters but still fresh northerly breezes, just one point separated Intrigue and Invincible, but Calvert opened this to two points after beating Clark by one placings in the first race today. Although Invincible took first place in the final race it was not enough to overtake the wily Calvert and his crew from the 'Royals'.

Intrigue finished on 15 points from placings of 6-1-1-1-3-3 in the no-drop regatta, Invincible on 15 points (3-4-2-2-4) while third place on 20 points went to The Fork in the Road which took the line/IRC double in the first race today.

Under AMS scoring Invincible certainly lived up to her name, winning five of the six races on corrected time to finish with 9 points. Intrigue won the other two races to finish with 17 points, third overall going to the Fork in the Road on 20 points.

Greg Prescott's brand new Melges 32 2Unlimited made a most impressive debut on the Derwent, beating bigger boats around the courses in most races. However, a DNC in race three put paid to any chance of a top placing
overall, and she ended up a creditable fifth.

The Fork in the Road revelled in the heavy weather and won the PHS division with 27 points after a third and a second place today on corrected time after leading the fleet home. Intrigue finished second 32 points, with Steve Chau's Sydney 38 Ciao Baby II third overall on 36.5 points.

Performance Cruising attracted the biggest keelboat fleet of the Crown Series, with results scored under PHS and also AMS for those boats holding an AMS rating.

Farr 40 winner Voodoo Chile, Wired and POW. - 2010 Crown Series Regatta Bellerive Yacht Blub - Jane Austin Click Here to view large photo

Tony Harman's Masquerade took out the PHS trophy with 23 points after five races, with the syndicate-owned Planet X finishing second on 25 points and Twitch (Rod Marshall) third on 29.5 points. Under AMS scoring the winner was Rod Viney's Prion on 12.5 points from Masquerade on 14 points and Steven Keal's Cyclone.

Cruising Green division saw two boats Rosella (Andrew Matton) and Vite (Bob Wilson) finish on 14 points with victory going on a countback to Rosella which won two of the five races.

Cruising Red was also close, with Cirrus (Andrew Montgomery) finishing on 14 points, Innovator (Ian Smith and Michael Jones) on 15 points and Camlet Way (Steve Mannering) on 16 points.

Hobart's Half Ton fleet always produces highly competitive racing with five different winners for the five races. Half Hearted (Chad Grafton) won the last race to clinch victory by just one point from Kamehameha (Frank Chatterton) with Silicon Ship (Walter Knoop) only three points away on 17 points.

A consistently good series, comprising two wins, a second and third on corrected time saw Rouseabout (Grahame Inglis) finish the 9 Metre division on 10 points, four points clear of Shadowfax (Matt Westland) and Trouble (Dave Willans).

Friday night’s twilght race saw close and colourful sailing. - 2010 Crown Series Regatta Bellerive Yacht Blub - Jane Austin Click Here to view large photo

Silver Mist (Andrew Sutherland) running downwind today in Division 1. - Crown Series Bellerive Regatta - Peter Campbell &copy

Cleopatra (Scott Sharp) on day three of the regatta - a rare glimpse of sunshine on the River Derwent today! - Crown Series Bellerive Regatta - Peter Campbell &copy