Drama at sea in Hobart to Betsey Island Race

9:48 AM Sat 12 Dec 2009 GMT

'Betsey Island start with Mr Kite breaking the line' Peter Campbell &copy

A crewman was knocked overboard on one yacht and another yacht lost its rudder near a lee shore during a dramatic race to Betsey Island, south of Hobart, as galeforce south to south-westerly winds lashed the southern coast
of Tasmania today.

The crew of Steve Logan's Odyssey 2001 from Bellerive Yacht Club successfully retrieved the fellow crew member after he was hit by the boom and knocked in the water during an involuntary gybe caused by 'bullets' of wind sweeping down from the cliffs of Betsey Island.

He was conscious while in the water, but when the crew got him back on board he was apparently suffering from concussion and possible hypothermia. Odyssey 2001 immediately headed back towards Hobart, also calling Coast
Radio Hobart for medical advice.

A Water Police launch met the yacht inside the River Derwent and took the crewman to the Royal Hobart Hospital where he was admitted for observation.

The 9m class yacht Footloose, skippered by Stewart Geeves, broke its rudder rounding Betsey Island, with Derwent Sailing Squadron Commodore Peter Geeves, skippeeing Lock on Wood, initially taking the stricken yacht in tow.
Later he handed the tow to the bigger yacht Birgana, with the DSS patrol boat AK Ward completing the tow up the river.

'He was getting close to the rocks and with 30 knots of wind it was too hard for us to hold him for long,' Commodore Geeves said after the race. 'We then went alongside Odyssey 2001 to offer them any assistance or advice but they
had things under control by that stage.'

Wind strength ranging from 10 to 35 knots and direction switched for north to south-west, south and then to the west and north-west during the 35 nautical, making sailing conditions extremely difficult. As the fleet reached the open waters at the Iron Pot, the three Farr 40s retired by mutual agreement when the wind exceeded 25 knots.

In total nine of the 53 starters retired for various reasons, including those who went to the assistance of Footloose and Odyssey 2001.

David Taylor, skipper of the Sydney 36 Pisces, said they recorded a westerly gust of 35 knots between the Iron Pot and Betsey Island. 'Pisces hit 14 knots under spinnaker in that gust..but Jibe Talkin' went past us doing 17 knots. We were regularly clocking 12 and 13 knots.but behind the island it was terrible.'

Two of three catamarans in the fleet sailed the course in just over four hours, with John Brierley's Deguello finishing 2 minutes and 50 seconds ahead of Stephen Laird's Storm Bay. First monohull to finish was Gary Smith's Bakewell-White 45 Marineline/Focal, sailing the course in 4 hours 10 minutes and 25 seconds, beating arch rival Mr Kite (Andrew Hunn) across the line by just 42 seconds.

Buggbear hits a ’bullet’ as she finishes the Betsey Island Race today - Peter Campbell &copy

On corrected time, Harold Clark's Farr 1107 Invincible from Bellerive Yacht Club, lived up to her name by convincingly winning both the IRC and AMS rating divisions while Roger Jackman's Doctor Who won PHS.

Under IRC ratings, Invincible won from Doctor Who and David Taylor's Pisces while under the AMS scoring Invincible won from Easy Street (Clive Anning) and Pisces. Dr Who topped the PHS results from Jibe Talkin' (John Mills)
and the consistent Pisces.

The 9m division saw Graham Inglis' Rouseabout win line and handicap honours, beating Just Jones and Playwright (John Williams) while Division 2 went to Hornet (Neville Georgeson) and Division 3 to Edris (David Wynn).

www.campbellsailing.com

by Peter Campbell

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