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SLICK
WILLIE AT LAST!
The 2002 Sail Melbourne Southern Oceans Multihull Regatta
After
finishing second for the last two years, Craig Unthank's & Chris
Culph's much campaigned maxi trailerable trimaran 'Slick Willie'
won the 2002 Sail Melbourne SOMR. Slick Willie, a Grainger designed
9.2m tri, proved consistent and fast in what was a strong wind Regatta
and won from South Australia's Robert Remilton entry 'Wilparinna
2' with Martyn Riley's revamped and star studded 57' cat 'Raw Nerve'
third.
In
the SOMR race program, Race 2 was abandoned midway due to a priority
gale warning being issued but that did not save Neil Goatman's recently
completed Cosmos 35' cat "Witchdoctor' from breaking it's mast
or Vince Gardiner's well performing trailer tri 'Trifle' from breaking
its rudder.
Before
Race 3, the committee boat had water pump troubles and the first
short triangle race was abandoned. Out for Race 4 in the afternoon
and Raw Nerve took a close interest in an inflatable marker buoy
and sailed off with the buoys' anchor rope attached to their dagger
board. This Race was resailed later.
The long (35n,m,) Race 6 saw boisterous conditions at the start,
a lull to almost no wind as the fastest boat (Raw Nerve) finished,
then a savage southerly change come through at 40 knots! The weather
was nothing if not interesting!
Of
the five races actually finished Slick Willie counted 1,1,2,2 while
the carbon F31 Wilparinna 2 counted 2,2,3,3. These two tris were
well sailed and deserved success.
In the trailerable division Gary Halls' much modified C class cat
'Conquest' revelled in the strong conditions and finished third
behind Slick Willie and Wilparinna 2. Also in this division was
Gary Maskiell's International 23 'Take the Bouys' which also loved
the strong conditions and was particularly hard sailed - so much
so that a crew member on Slick Willie was overheard to comment "we
haven't had our frontal lobotomy yet like they have so we didn't
fly a masthead kite in 35 knots".
The
return to racing of the modified Raw Nerve (now 6' longer with more
forward buoyancy, sail drive engines, etc.) provided an awesome
spectacle as the boat dominated line honours, usually in a shower
of mist and spray. Owner Martyn Riley assembled a crew including
Keith Glover, Joel Berg and Stuart Bloomfield to make the big cat
move.
The gentleman's class (Cruisers) finished with the three entrants
on the same point score, which was perfect management by the crews!
Some highlights of the Regatta were
- Watching
the little International 23 'Take the bouys' at the limit in strong
winds with masthead kite.
- Watching
George Bulka and crew on his modified Seawind 31 (now 36') cat
'Sea Trek'search for even more wind while in a 30+ knot southerly!
- Tracking
the antics of Wayne Huxley and his crew. Wayne is building a 51'
cat so he purchased a little toy (a 24 x 22 tri with a 40' mast,
bows and mast tip painted iridescent orange) to play with. They
drove it so hard that they broke it, fixed it and broke it again.
They called it 'Animal' but by the end of SOMR someone had renamed
it 'Road Kill'.
- Simply
watching Raw Nerve power to windward, high and fast. Look out
Brisbane-Gladstone!
- The
finish of Race one where the last nine boats ended up crossing
the finish line within minutes with three of them separated by
a total of 20 seconds.
Once
again the Western Port Marina provided not only a terrific berthing
place but also food and drinks after the racing. However, marina
staff were reluctant to perform "an item of entertainment"
at the post Regatta Saturday evening presentation function. Unfortunately
for guests and the rest of the audience, other crews were not so
reticent and a riotous evening was experienced. It is rumoured that
some people come for this 'event' only - the locals now seriously
doubt the sanity of some multihullers!
Sponsor
support from Sail Melbourne, Horizon Sails and the wonderful Western
Port Marina were much appreciated for this, the eleventh SOMR which
had the usual variety of weather (a bit to the stronger winds side
than usual), the great waters of Western Port and the most enjoyable
week of sailing in the year. Make a point of being there next year
in early January.
Phillip Hames
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