6:52 PM Fri 26 Mar 2010 GMT
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'Godzilla'
Peter Campbell ©
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Teams from five of Melbourne's major yacht clubs will line up this weekend for the Association Cup, the traditional end-of-season encounter between top boats for a trophy first contested in 1907.
The Association Cup is the annual interclub yachting championship on Port Phillip for what is officially the 'Victorian Yacht Racing Association Perpetual Challenge Cup' with the winning club holding the heavily engraved silver cup for the following 12 months.
Over the past century and more, most clubs have won the trophy at least twice, but in recent years it has been dominated by the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria at Williamstown.
The Royal Yacht Club of Victoria will defend the Association with a strong team of 12 boats, three in each of the four divisions that make up the contest, IRC Divisions 1 and 2 and AMS divisions 1 and 2.
The challenges will come from Royal Brighton Yacht Club, Sandringham Yacht Club, the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron and Hobson's Bay Yacht Club.
Heading the RYCV team in IRC division 1 is Michael Hiatt's highly successful Living Doll, along with Pat O'Driscoll's Apache and Grant Botica's Executive Decision. The AMS Division 2 team comprises Bruce Taylor's Chutzpah, Tim
Olding's Swordfish Trombone and Wake (A Lidgett). Andrew Munro's Godzilla heads the team in IRC division 1 while Footloose heads the team in AMS Division 2.
Sandringham Yacht Club will field a strong team in IRC division1, comprising the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race runner-up Wicked (Mike and Mark Welsh), Rob Date's Scarlett Runner and Phil Simpfendorfers's Veloce.
Two races are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday for all divisions.
by Peter Campbell
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