WMYC - Multihull Yacht Sales Australia Trophy 2011

(held in conjunction with the St Helena Cup)

by Phil Day

This year the event was held a few weeks later than usual so it wouldn’t clash with the AFL or NRL Grand Finals, Bathurst and other major sporting events.  The choice of dates worked well for the weather as conditions were the best we had experienced in many years.  Both days enjoyed breezes in the mid 15 knot range from  the east with a few interesting directional changes to keep the crews working hard and guessing which side of the course will get the lift or better wind strength.

It was a spectacular sight to see a strong fleet of 21 multis lining up for the start with 78 monos having started 30 minutes earlier.

Saturday had the stronger breeze with some fast and fun spinnaker runs and very fast reaches.  Dux Nutts with Shaun ‘Whacko Jacko’ at the helm made an impressive re-appearance  to the sailing scene with an outstanding show of speed and demonstrated that his early 90’s Grainger Tri can still clear the fleet from the start and be first to the windward mark in race 1.  The Adrian Rogers 40 Rushour  made its race debut following a major refit and its owner  Drew Carruther’s  proved it’s going to be a real weapon.  Despite standard Dacron sails she was out pacing Rhythmic  around the course. Many of the multis were sporting gun crews for the two race events.  The masked man on the helm of Renaissance was later found to be Geoff Berg ably assisted by Ben Kelly as the master trimmer. Geoff Cruse and Rob Meizerwere sightedon boardFree Spirit as bar maids to serve the drinks.

The racing was over and done with on the first day by 2.30pm so this meant more time to party.  I was told the band was fantastic back at the WMYC Clubhouse and the multihullers, (mostly blokes) were up there on the dance floor strutting their stuff with Garry  Scott leading the way showing off his Salsa dance moves on Peter Hackett and his daughters.

It was great to see so many multis out racing and many new faces and boats on the water having a fun time; maybe we’ll have 25 multihulls next year!

Thanks everyone, see you at next year’s big event.