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11:52 AM Mon 27 Oct 2008 GMT
Andrew Short, owner/skipper of the carbon fibre-hulled maxi yacht Andrew Short Marine-Shockwave 5, this afternoon accepted the historic Pine Trees Trophy on beautiful Lord Howe Island to mark his line honours victory in the classic ocean race across the Tasman Sea.
Less than 100 nautical miles to the south-west, Ian Kiernan was driving his 50-year-old wooden-hulled Sanyo Maris to windward in a bid to have the 11.3m yawl become the oldest yacht ever to win this 414 nautical mile ocean passage race.
In fact, if she wins - and the odds looked good this evening - Sanyo Maris could be the oldest yacht ever to win any major ocean race in Australian waters. Perhaps an historic first in a Category one race anywhere in the world!
Andrew Short Marine-Shockwave 5 crossed the finished line off Lord Howe Island's Coral Lagoon at 07:42:35 this morning, but already her chances of also winning the premier IRC division on corrected time were fading.
By late this afternoon, as Andrew Short and fellow watch-keepers on the 80-footer, CYCA Commodore Matt Allen and one-time leading sailmaker Bob Fraser, collected the Pine Trees Trophy from Gosford Sailing Club's Race Director Mark Greenwood, the chances of a double win were diminishing rapidly.
Two other yachts had finished, the Volvo 60 Getaway-Sailing, skippered by Peter Goldsworthy crossing the line at 12:52:20, followed by the Dibley 42 More Witchcraft, owned and skippered by CYCA Rear Commodore John Cameron, at 18:55:17.
Both are in the PHS division, with More Witchcraft beating Getaway-Sailing on corrected time, but also under threat to hold top position from another veteran yacht, Chris Dawe's Gosford-built Cole 43 Polaris of Belmont.
Interest centres mainly, however, on the IRC division, with the Gosford Sailing Club's computers placing Sanyo Maris number one in the progressive handicap positions, holding a comfortable lead on corrected speed from Occasional Coarse Language, Warwick Sherman's Cookson 12.
In third place was the Newcastle yacht One for the Road, a Scott Jutson-designed Northshore 37, skippered by Kym Butler, with Andrew Short Marine-Shockwave 5 slipping to fifth in overall IRC handicap standings.
At the 1905 hours sked, Occasional Coarse Language had 24 nautical miles to sail to the finish, while One for the Road was 55.6 nm south-west of the island. Patrice Six did not report at this sked.
Sanyo Maris reported her position as 92nm from Lord Howe Island and, with her low rating, she has until about 1600 hours (4pm) to finish and record an historic win.
She obviously is still enjoying a good northerly breeze as she had sailed 70 nm in the 12 hours between skeds today and has maintained an average boat speed of just under 6 knots.
If she can keep up this speed through the night and early tomorrow she could finish by late tomorrow morning - well within the time to win the IRC division. Even if her speed drops to five knots, she still should finish early in the afternoon and win.
Speaking from Lord Howe Island late this afternoon, Andrew Short said he was 'absolutely rapt' with the Reichel/Pugh designed 24.4m maxi which he bought in America earlier this year.
'The boat has sailed 13,000 sea miles since I bought her, including winning line honours in the big St David's Lighthouse division of the famous Newport to Bermuda Race.
'While this race was an easy affair, mostly about 16 knots from the north-east to north-west, just two headsail changes on the one tack from the Terrigal mark, except for a short one to the finish line as we slightly under-laid the island.
'Built in Sydney by McConaghy Boats for Neville Crichton in 2000, she is a fine example of Australian boat-building and we are confident of being one of the front runners in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
'She retired from her maiden Hobart Race and was sold overseas soon after that race, so this has to be her first win in a major long ocean race in Australia,' Short added.
With the Gosford Sailing Club entry Polaris of Belmont currently heading the PHS progressive leader boat, the other Gosford yacht, Bill Koppe's Pacha is holding fifth place in the IRC division.
In a satphone call from the yacht this afternoon, crew member and Australian Yachting magazine editor Kevin Green gave an ETA at Lord Howe Island at about 1.30 tomorrow morning.
'We have been on the wind since the start, getting headwomds that reached 28 knots in one short burst,' Green said. 'It's been one tack all the way since we rounded the Terrigal mark, changing down from a No 1 to a No 2 and then a No 3 headsail, and even a reef in the main.
'We've shaken out the reef and we are on a rhumbline course for Lord Howe.'
by Peter Campbell
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