Bill Ebsary's Benetau 44.7 'Le Billet' is still on top of the overall IRC pointscore after the completion of Races Two and Three on Day Two of the 27th Pittwater & Coffs Harbour Offshore Series today. Bill Ebsary and the crew have had the perfect start to the series with three wins in three races to leave her on three points. Robert Alder's J35 'Jayhawk' leads the PHS Division after three races on nine points.

The Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club was ablaze with excitement this morning as the 24 boats and crew prepared themselves for the second day of racing in the 2007-08 series.

Series Principal Race Officer, Ted Anderson called it "champagne sailing and excellent conditions for racing." The two windward/leeward races were conducted off the Palm Beach Circle on a perfect summer’s day with breeze from the NNE starting at 6-7knots for Race One and building to 12-15 knots for the start of Race Two.

In the IRC Division, Race One was a 6.6 nautical mile windward/leeward race, getting underway on time at 12pm in ideal conditions in a 6-7 Knot  breeze in a bumpy 1-2m swell. Getting away to a flyer and taking line honours was ther CYCA's Stomp 38 'Stomp' skippered by Nick De Laine in an elapsed time of 1hr 23mins 47 secs. On corrected time, however, it 'Le Billet' (2nd over the line) taking the spoils from Jimmy King / Bruce Staples Murray 37 Custom 'Dark & Stormy Witch' with a minute separating the top two boats, with an RPAYC trifecta complete with Grant Haliiday's Sydney 38 OD 'The Business' in third by only another two seconds .

Race Two saw the 9 boat IRC fleet sail a distance of 9 nautical miles as the breeze picked up and blew a little harder from the NNE, between 10-15 knots. 'Le Billet', 'Stomp' and 'The Business' got out of the blocks well as they opted for the pin end of the start line. As they rounded the top mark and flew their kites, that order hadn't changed as they came downhill in spectacular fashion. At the finish line it was 'Le Billet' taking the line honours in a time of 1hr 40mins 6secs and in doing so took out handicap honours by some 4 minutes. In fact, Race Two was a replica of race one results with 'Dark & Stormy Witch' in 2nd place with 'The Business' filling the podium, in third.

So at the end of three races, the IRC series pointscore sees 'Le BIllet' on top of the ladder on 3 points (1-1-1) followed by 'Dark & Stormy Witch' on 7 points (3-2-2) and the 2001 series winner 'Nips N Tux', the IMX 40 in 3rd position on 13 points (2-6-5). 'Le Billet' at this stage is looking good to defend her 2006-07 IRC series victory.

Dockside Bill Ebsary said, "he was extremely happy with boat and crew's performance, an excellent day's racing and perfect for the Beneteau with the 10-15 knot conditions. Really pleased with results and delighted with the great start to the series. Our attention now turns to the long race to Coffs on Wednesday which we're really looking forward to but it  will be a completely different race with the big boats coming into the race." This will be Bill's 22nd trip to Coffs in this race.

The first race in the PHS Division, a 4.4 nautical mile race saw Garry Holder's ID35, 'The Real Thing' over the line in first position. On corrected time, 'Jayhawk' won from 'The Real Thing' by a meagre two seconds, with 'Next Moment' in third.

In the second race of the day, it was victory for the boys from Coffs Harbour aboard the Sydney 41 'B52' owned and skippered by Paul D'Olier who had a sensational race after getting out of the blocks well and winning on corrected time by just 13 seconds from the Anthony Pickering Sydney 38 OD 'Love Byte' with 'Next Moment' with another third place.

So after both races in the PHS Division, the 15 yacht fleet has another RPAYC boat on top of the ladder with Robert Alder's J35 ‘Jahawk' on 9 points (3-1-5), with ‘Love Byte', a Sydney 38OD out of the CYCA skippered by Anthony Pickering just a point behind the ladder on 10 points (2-6-2) with Ray Hudson's X-442 ‘Next Moment' cementing 3rd spot on 12.5 points (6-3.5-3).

Commenting after racing and the prize giving tonight at the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, Robert Alder skipper of 'Jayhawk' said, "the series so far has been great, we really enjoyed the overnight race and today was a beautiful day on the water. We did better in the first race today in the lighter conditions but when the breeze picked up for the second race, the bigger boats simply got away from us. We're looking forward to the Coffs race and hoping for a Nor' Easter all the way.  With the forecast not looking favourable for us, we'll just need to have a private chat to the weather Gods. We're hoping to improve on our 3rd position in PHS in the series last year. We''ll see you in Coffs." 'Jayhawk' won PHS Division Two of the 2006-07 series.

After some New Year celebrations, the yachts will be back on the track on Wednesday 2nd January for the first ocean race of 2008, the 27th running of the Pittwater to Coffs Harbour yacht race, where 68 boats will start at 12pm off Barrenjoey Headland. 

Damian Devine

Image; Le Billet, leading the fleet in Race Two and overall series leader: © Damian Devine

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Last Updated ( Sunday, 30 December 2007 )