The 2024 Cabbage Tree Island Race, the fifth and penultimate race in the Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore (ACSBWPS), started on Friday 6 December under partly cloudy skies and 8-9 knots of breeze.

The race also doubled as the first race of the 2024 One Circular Quay Australian Maxi Championship.

The racecourse took the yachts to Cabbage Tree Island, just north of Port Stephens on the Mid-North Coast of NSW and back to Sydney Harbour.

With 60 yachts competing in the CYCA event and a strategically complex forecast in play, competitors had their work cut out for them. As the final offshore race before Hobart, the fleet included many of the Rolex Sydney Hobart heavy-hitters, including Love & War, Alive, URM Group, Centennial 7 (previously Celestial TP52), Disko Trooper_Contender Sailcloth, Maritimo Katwinchar, as well as the 100-foot powerhouses, Master Lock Comanche and LawConnect.

Of the 60 competing yachts, 14 were Double Handed competitors; all prepared for a long race with many potential park-ups and challenging transition zones ahead.

Similar to the previous Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore outing, the Bird Island Race, there was a General Recall after multiple boats were over the start line early in their attempt to start at the boat end of the line. The RP66 Alive skippered by Duncan Hine retired with forward rudder damage shortly afterwards.

The second attempt, 20 minutes later, was more successful, with only two yachts individually recalled, Centennial 7 and Celestial V70. On their way out to the Heads, numerous tacking duels ensued, as competitors tried to stay in clean air.

First out Sydney Heads was Master Lock Comanche, followed closely by LawConnect and URM Group. The first double-handed competitors to leave Sydney Harbour were Avalanche, Toucan, Disko Trooper_Contender Sailcloth and Jupiter.

The first night

During the first night the whole fleet faced similar conditions, battling a fresh north-easterly wind that reached up to 25 knots further offshore. In the early hours of the race, it was Wild Thing 100, who led the charge over Master Lock Comanche and LawConnect, who both opted to head further out to sea.

URM Group navigator Alice Parker shared: “The boat loved those conditions. We were sending it upwind in 20 knots with a bump in the ocean—just trucking away, really,” as the sound of the hull pounding against the waves echoed in the background.

A little further back, Jules Hall, co-skipper of Disko Trooper_Contender Sailcloth recalled: “The first half of the race was pretty slow for the little boats but relatively straight forward, the Double Handed fleet was close together throughout the whole night.”

The fleet was hard-pressed to get up the coast as fast as possible, with the imminent morning shut-down around Cabbage Tree Island that could significantly slow their progress.

Rounding Cabbage Tree Island

In the early hours of the morning, Master Lock Comanche was the first to round the island, followed by LawConnect and Wild Thing 100. The three largest yachts in the fleet all got around the island in good shape, avoiding any major park-ups. The going became harder later in the afternoon.

The next procession of yachts to round the island were slightly slowed down but managed to avoid a full standstill: Celestial V70, URM Group, Wild Oats X, Moneypenny, Whisper and No Limit. Smuggler was the best placed of the 50-footers, with a healthy lead over Centennial 7 and KOA at the island.

Around 1630hrs, a group of seven yachts approached the island in light and shifting conditions. Focused on staying clear of the wind-shadow cast by the island, competitors tried to keep their distance, with some still getting effected by the island. Exiting the island ahead of the group was Oroton Drumfire, followed by Indigo II, Odin, Bacchanal, XS Moment, Calibre 12 and Quantock.

Keiran Searle, tactician onboard Bacchanal recalls their Cabbage Tree Island rounding: “We approached the island in a small group of yachts. It was good to have some canaries in the coalmine ahead of us. We could clearly see that the yachts ahead of us had parked up and that allowed us to position ourselves wider than the rest, resulting in a good exit.

“Oroton Drumfire did a fantastic job rounding the island and we followed her line out of the island. In the next hours of the race we managed to link together a number of transition zones really well and that contributed to our great result in this race.”

A little while later, after 22 hours of racing, the first group of the double-handers reached the island, the group was led by Avalanche, Disko Trooper_Contender Sailcloth, Joker X2 and Jupiter.

Jules Hall shared his account of the Cabbage Tree Island rounding: “There was a rainstorm developing over Port Stephens and that created major differences in wind direction. We had to execute a number of sail changes in quick succession but we [Jan Scholten and Hall] executed them well. We came into the island behind both Rum Rebellion and Jupiter but were able to overtake them around the island, we extended that lead and fought hard to keep it afterwards.”

Master Lock Comanche claimed Line Honours in the Cabbage Tree Island Race, the first race in the One Circular Quay Australian Maxi Championship. They finished after 15 hours, 54 minutes and 40 seconds of racing.

Next across the line was LawConnect who finished nearly 40 minutes later. Wild Thing 100 was less lucky and ran into confused wind conditions as she parked up, seeing her finish after 21 hours and 10 seconds of racing.

Matt Allen, co-skipper of the Line Honours winner relished the Maxi’s last overnight race before taking on the Sydney Hobart: “We were making great progress until two-thirds of the way back to Sydney. After some slower sailing we got going again. It is nice to come away with a win in this race but the weather gods might have given us a hand with this one. The varied conditions, from upwind to downwind racing is something you come across in a Hobart, so it was great preparation rolling into Boxing Day.”

In the overall standings it was the two fastest yachts around the course that also claimed the top two spots in IRC, joining them in third was the Division 2, American entry, Bacchanal.

Owner of Bacchanal, Ronald Epstein, was proud after the race: “For two years, I deliberated over which yacht to choose as the next step up from my J/133. Ultimately, we decided to have a JPK 11.80 built in Australia, racing it here before bringing it back to the West Coast of the USA. Our crew is a mix of Australian, British, and American sailors, and I couldn’t have asked for a better start to our campaign and preparation for Hobart. While there’s still a lot to learn about the yacht, it feels like we might have a little weapon on our hands.”

Finishing in the dead of night was Ray Hudson’s XS Moment, taking the PHS Overall and PHS Division 1 victory, it was the skipper and the yacht’s first Blue Water Pointscore divisional win.

Hudson said: “We run a fully Corinthian program of committed sailors. While the crew has remained similar over the past years we have a few new faces on the boat. It is great to see the whole crew’s level improving as we take on the best of the best in the ACSBWPS. We have been a bit unlucky at the start of the Pointscore but coming away with a win makes you forget these things pretty quickly. Now all our attention shifts to the Hobart.”

The PHS Standings were rounded out by Happy Wanderer (previously Vamp) and Bacchanal.

The Double Handed Division was close-faught as always. In IRC it was Hall and Scholten on Disko Trooper_Contender Sailcloth who managed to secure the win over Joker X2 in second and Jupiter in third.

Hall commended his competitors: “A huge congratulations to everyone who competed, the Double Handed Division is very competitive and the level has gotten very high, quickly. This makes racing so much fun.”

The Double Handed PHS results featured the same three competitors but in different order. This time, it was Joker X2, co-skippered by Grant Chipperfield and Peter Dowdney that took top honours, second was Ian Smith and Lincoln Dews on Jupiter and Disko Trooper_Contender Sailcloth third.

Six yachts retired from the race:

• Alive (rudder damage)
• Chancellor (time constraints)
• Cyan Moon (time constraints)
• Maritimo Katwinchar (time constraints)
• Philosopher (electrical issues)
• Transcendence Rudy Project (time constraints)

Results:

Line Honours

1. Master Lock Comanche (Vplp Verdier 100) – Matt Allen and James Mayo
2. LawConnect (Juan K 100 Custom) – Christian Beck
3. Wild Thing 100 (Maxi) – Grant Wharington and Adrian Seiffert

IRC Overall

1. Master Lock Comanche (Vplp Verdier 100) – Matt Allen and James Mayo
2. LawConnect (Juan K 100 Custom) – Christian Beck
3. Bacchanal (JPK 11.80) – Ronald Epstein

IRC Div 1

1. Master Lock Comanche (Vplp Verdier 100) – Matt Allen and James Mayo
2. LawConnect (Juan K 100 Custom) – Christian Beck
3. Pretty Woman (IC 45 MOD) – Richard Hudson

IRC Div 2

1. Bacchanal (JPK 11.80) – Ronald Epstein
2. Ariel (Beneteau First 40) – Ron Forster and Phil Damp
3. Calibre 12 (Cookson 12) – Richard Williams

PHS Overall

1. XS Moment (XP44) – Ray Hudson
2. Happy Wanderer (Corby 49) – Daniel Cannon
3. Bacchanal (JPK 11.80) – Ronald Epstein

PHS Div 1

1. Happy Wanderer (Corby 49) – Daniel Cannon
2. Pretty Woman (IC 45 MOD) – Richard Hudson
3. Master Lock Comanche (Vplp Verdier 100) – Matt Allen and James Mayo

PHS Div 2

1. XS Moment (XP44) – Ray Hudson
2. Bacchanal (JPK 11.80) – Ronald Epstein
3. Mondo (Sydney 38) – Lisa Callaghan

IRC Corinthian

1. Pretty Woman (IC 45 MOD) – Richard Hudson
2. Koa (TP52) – Peter Wrigley and Andrew Kearnan
3. Calibre 12 (Cookson 12) – Richard Williams

Wild Rose IRC

1. Pretty Woman (IC 45 MOD) – Richard Hudson
2. Calibre 12 (Cookson 12) – Richard Williams
3. Mondo (Sydney 38) – Lisa Callaghan

Double Handed IRC

1. Disko Trooper_Contender Sailcloth (J/99) – Jules Hall and Jan Scholten
2. Joker X2 (J/133) – Grant Chipperfield and Peter Dowdney
3. Jupiter (J/99) – Ian Smith and Lincoln Dews

Double Handed PHS

1. Joker X2 (J/133) – Grant Chipperfield and Peter Dowdney
2. Jupiter (J/99) – Ian Smith and Lincoln Dews
3. Disko Trooper_Contender Sailcloth (J/99) – Jules Hall and Jan Scholten

by Cruising Yacht Club of Australia