Launceston to Hobart - Out of the mud, onto the podium

9:12 AM Wed 30 Dec 2009 GMT

'Crew of overall winner Blue Sky - Launceston to Hobart' Peter Campbell &copy

Hobart yachtsman David Taylor and his yacht Pisces have made a remarkable recovery to win the IRC handicap division of the Launceston to Hobart (L2H) yacht race after being stuck in the mud in the Tamar River soon after the start on Sunday.

Taylor was forced into the mudbank by other yachts as they tacked down the river and faced two hours before the tide changed. Quick thinking by the crew saw them hoist their asymmetric spinnaker and wind power pulled them
clear.

From dead last of the 35 yacht fleet into Bass Strait, the Sydney 36 steadily made up ground down the East Coast to finish ninth across the line on Tuesday and today was confirmed as winner of the IRC division and second in the AMS division.

With all but one of the 35 starters now finished, the bulk of the fleet enjoying a spinnaker ride up the River Derwent in today's brisk seabreeze, race director Ron Bugg announced Pisces as the winner of the IRC division, Whistler (David Rees) as first in the AMS division and Blue Sky winner of the PHS division and Overall winner of this third L2H race.

Blue Sky is a Beneteau 40.7 skippered by Richard Fisher, immediate past commodore of the Tamar Yacht Club and a successful dinghy and sports boat sailor. The well-sailed yacht's crew included Rob Matthews, a survivor of the fatal sinking of the Launceston yacht Business Post Naiad in the 1998 Sydney Hobart.

Blue Sky won the PHS division from Whistler and Mark Ballard's 42 South, from Bellerive Yacht Club.

'We had a good start, were sixth out of the Tamar and beat the tidal change through Banks Strait, but I think the key point in our win came when we decided to gybe out to sea south of Maria Island and picked up the building nor'easter,' skipper Fisher said today.

'It was a race of great variety in wind direction and strength in Storm Bay; yesterday we had 30 to 40 knots on the nose,' he added.

Blue Sky and Whistler sailed and finished close together, Blue Sky beating Whistler across the line by just over a minute, but the corrected time margin for Overall first place was just over 25 minutes.

Whistler, a Dovell 38, sailed a consistently good race, winning the AMS division from Pisces and Blue Sky, and finishing runner-up in both the PHS and IRC divisions. John Brierley's Crowther 48 catamaran Deguello won the
new Multihull division.

The trophy presentation for the L2H race will be held at the Derwent Sailing Squadron tomorrow (Thursday) at 3pm.

by Peter Campbell