Hog's Breath Cafe Trophy, Pioneer Bay -that Brown chap and 007

2:36 AM Mon 15 Mar 2010 GMT

Geoff Brown and his 007 crew are in a strong position to 'dine out' on the best a steak can get when they firmed a stronger grip on the Hog's Breath Cafe trophy series on Pioneer Bay.

Brown now has a perfect score after two hard fought tactical races contested over the Whitsunday Sailing Club course to lead the ever reliable Surefoot (Rod Sawyer) 3-2 and the Colin Pruden skippered Sandpiper 2-3 by 3 points with two races remaining.

However the 007 crew were pressed to find a crucial edge in boat speed to emerge as the winner over the equally well sailed Surefoot with the two yachts separated by the narrow margin of 6 seconds on elapsed time.

Both crews became engaged in their private match race while Terry Archer again steered the AC 40 Questionable Logic to yet another comfortable line honours win leaving Surefoot and 007 to stage their own private match race for the minor places.

The tactical duel between the two radically different designed yachts became the feature of the battle for control of the Hog's Breath Cafe trophy points table with the former Royal Papua Yacht Club Admirals Cup representative Surefoot holding her own against the more modern Geoff Brown helmed Northbridge 38 007.

But the 007 crew who had outsailed the fleet to take the corrected time honours in race 1 again raced with a positive attitude to protect their lower .782 handicap over Surefoot .797.

As expected Rod Sawyer capably assisted by his crew sailed another intelligent race in the prevailing 12-18 knot East South East breeze while stronger gusts blew over the open waters of the Whitsunday Passage however Surefoot a noted moderate to fresh wind performer failed to shake the persistent 007 off her wake.

Geoff Brown was happy to be engaged in the close tactical joust against Rod Sawyer as it helped him to protect his handicap rating.

This selection of 'drag racing' tactics and boat on boat mate against mate match racing eventually allowed 007 to save her handicap to claim back to back victories with a relatively comfortable 47 second margin while the result to decide the next five places hung in the balance.

Surefoot had posted her corrected time for her lower handicap rivals to beat and it remained under threat when Sandpiper, Idle Time (Kevin Fogarty), Rising Farrst (Tim Osborne) and Riff Raff set up a late charge over the final leg of the course.

All four crews held a strong chance to upstage Surefoot for the important second place points in what proved to be the closest finish recorded on Pioneer Bay this year where Surefoot managed to save her time by 5 seconds while Sandpiper filled third 8 seconds in advance of Idle Time who beat Rising Farrst by 1 second with another 3 seconds to Riff Raff.

by Ian Grant