The Cockburn Sound Regatta is a 4 day event held between Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve on the beautiful and protected waters of Mangles Bay off Rockingham. Conditions were nigh on perfect for the whole regatta.

The Kwinana Industries Council Race to Rockingham is the feeder race for any metro based yachts and this year 18 made the 14 nautical mile trip down to join the rest of the fleet. The first 2 places over the line were taken by Multihulls with Ray Martin’s Farrier F85SR, First Tri taking line honours. The race was won by Jason Poutsma’s Etchell, Hustler, revelling in the light west south westerly breeze.

Numbers were slightly down this year so skippers found themselves competing against very different boats, compared to what they were used to. However, sailing consistently and making as few mistakes as possible proved to be just as important as it always has been when racing.

Division 2 was perhaps the most diverse group Ralph Newton’s classic yacht Eun na mara trading blows with Sam Threlfall’s Swarbrick 20, Lady Irene. The handicapping was a challenge but the relatively similar conditions from day to day ensured that the results were close over the 4 days of the regatta. Stephen Hill’s H28, Karoleeya, unfortunately suffered some damage in a collision and had to retire from the series. Bruce Uren’s Spacesailer 22, Wildfire, sailed consistently well to take out the honours by 1 point from Hustler with a further point back to Lady Irene.

The Jib and Main entrants were divided into 3 fleets and in JAM 1, Tony Bewsher’s Sydney 47 Endorfin, took line honours in every race and was the overall winner on a countback, from Alan Anderson’s Swarbrick 10.2, Zubenubi, the smallest boat in the fleet. Barry Walsh’s Beneteau First 44.7, Twitch was 3rd.

Graeme Martin’s Gibsea 402, Sand Crabs Disco, was consistently fastest in the JAM 2 fleet although she was upstaged by Jane Laws on the Lotus 10.6 Ambience, in one of the races. Ambience had imported a gun Kiwi crew and, but for a bit of gear damage in one race when they broke some gear and had to retire, may well have won the series. The win however, went to the S&S 34 Soon, skippered by Michael Thorpe. She won from Sand Crabs Disco and Phil Somerville’s S&S 34 , Huckleberry.

JAM 3 was the only fleet in which all boats finished every race which is a tribute to their preparation and seamanship. The results were very close in the end with only 4 points separating 1st and last places. Lindsay Kenworthy skippered Spirit of Megan to a narrow win from Mark Barrett’s Spacesailer 27, Pegasus. The Farr 9.2, The Black Smoke, skippered by Jeremy Kerr, came in 3rd from Blue Chip, Flying Sorceress and Naw the Noo.

The regatta has been heavily promoted at Nedlands Yacht Club and, as a result, the Multihulls and Sports Boats have now estalished themselves as regular fleets at the regatta. Ron Stokes skippered Renegade to his second win in two years in the Multihulls, from First Tri, Trifle (Stuart Milne) and Whip It skippered by Greg Hill. Trifle showed great speed at times and was unfortunate to have to retire in the last race due to gear failure. Whip It also had gear problems and couldn’t start the last race.

The Sports Boats provided probably the most interesting and close match racing with the local Fremantle 8, Make No Mistake, skippered by Kevin Phillips, taking on last year’s standout performer Tiger, skippered by Gavin Taylor. Make No Mistake was fastest in the first 3 races but the tables were turned in the next 3 by Tiger. In the end, the local boat won the series from Tiger with Ric Fairey’s Elliott 7 coming in 3rd place. Jake Mitchell’s Pretty Woman, another Elliott 7, failed to finish in the first 2 races which cost her dearly.

The overall Regatta Champion is determined by a formula taking into account a boat’s gross point score and the sum of the total numbers of boats starting in each race in each Division. It was very close between Wildfire, Endorfin and Soon but in the end, it was Soon who prevailed by the narrowest of margins, to take out the prize for the second year in a row.

Full results at tcyc.com.au