(Sydney Harbour, Australia)- Hosted by Middle Harbour Yacht Club, the
Sydney Harbour Regatta is one of the largest, competitive keelboat
regattas in Australia. Over the weekend of March 9-10, over 200
keelboats raced in 26 divisions on 10 course areas on Sydney Harbour and
Offshore.For the second year running, the event was blessed with beautiful conditions, both days boasting winds of 8-10 knots early on and reaching 16-17 knots by late afternoon. Taking advantage of the gorgeous weather was a highly competitive J/24 class. A good fleet of seven boats participated for the two day event.
Starting off by winning the first race, Dave West's team on ACE threw
down the gauntlet and never let up on the fleet. After two days of
racing, Team ACE walked off with four 1sts and two 2nds to dominate the
J/24 fleet with a total of 8 pts. Giving them a run for the money by
winning at least two races was the Scott and Adam Jamieson family team
aboard JSPOT, amassing a 3-3-1-3-2-1 scoreline. The JSPOT boys were
clearly learning how to sail smarter, faster, cooler, more awesomely
every race, as evidenced by their 1st in the last race. Brett Hudson's
WILDFIRE was hoping they would be "on fire", but a last race OCS was not
helpful to their overall performance-- perhaps a bit too eager to put
the spot on JSPOT for the last race!The Sydney Harbour Regatta was sponsored by leading water sports and technical apparel supplier, HELLY HANSEN and supported by Sydney Ports, Robert Oatley Vineyards and Sydney City Marine. Pictured here is a highly modified J/24 dinghy prototype sans keel, made of wood with Gougeon epoxy, with the J/Sprit concept employed circa 1926. Yes, the J/24 was waaaay ahead of its time. :) For more Sydney Harbour Regatta sailing information
