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10:29 PM Sat 14 Feb 2009 GMT
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Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron past commodore and life member Norman Longworth's remarkable knowledge of the winds and tides of Sydney Harbour paid a handsome dividend today when the veteran yachtsman skippered Aurelia II to victory in the Squadron's historic Milson Memorial Cup.
Because of heavy seas and strong easterly winds offshore which made mark laying difficult, race officer Peter Hemery elected on a harbour course for the fleet, with the breeze ranging between 14 and 22 knots on a cool, wet and windy 'summer's day'.
Aurelia II, a Warwick Hood-designed 10m sloop, was last to finish the 16 nautical mile course but with the lowest PHS handicap rating comfortably won the Milson Memorial Cup on corrected time.
The Cup, which commemorates the family that was among the founders of the RSYS in the mid-1800s, is one of two annual long offshore races on the Squadron's calendar.
Longworth varies his yacht racing between mixed fleet inshore and offshore racing with his cruiser/racer Aurelia II and one-design harbour competition with his International Dragon class yacht Karabos VIII.
With the Milson Cup on the harbour, Longworth was able to utilise his local knowledge to beat the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia's short ocean pointscore leader Imagination (Annette & Robin Hawthorn) and Desmond Fagan's Lisdillon on corrected time.
Under IRC ratings, Imagination continued her success, beating About Time (Julian Farren-Price) and line honours winner Shockwave, Matthew Short's TP52.
The Milson Cup was also race eight for yachts entered in the CYCA's Grant Thornton 2008-2009 Short Ocean Pointscore, with Imagination winning Division 1 IRC and PHS, Morag Bheag (John Maclurcan) taking out Division 3 IRC. Division 3 PHS went to Lisdillon.
by Peter Campbell
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Sailing
