Page 2 - CYAA 2021/2022 Summer Series on Port Phillip Race 2 story

A description of the return of classic yacht racing action to Port Phillip.

That cover page image of Kingurra and Acrospire III says it all.

The two up nail biting RMYS race committee looking down the tower finish line ribbon, one with the
binocs on the bow of Kingurra and the other ready to call “now” stood in line for the Race 2 photo finish.
Melbourne Cup like finish line frenzy was the word inside the RMYS Race committee tower.

Judges unanimous decision. Kingurra by one second over Acrospire III. After two laps and clear wind it
was the mighty Kingurra, the boat that turned turtle and survived with her rig still standing in the 1998
Sydney to Hobart race, held off the fast charging Acrospire III to breast the finish line by one second
ahead .

After reading what Tony Hoppe, on board Acrospire
III, has to say. London to a brick the finish was
definitely not by a George Moore nose as followers
of the Sydney turf world would say.

“With Col Anderson on Acrospire III’s helm the
reaches from Marks C to e and E to D were just
the right angle for AC III doing 8 knoits with a
max of 9 knots. We were a bit rushed pre-race and
with only six crew did not have time to hoist the
tóps’l which might have helped us up wind and
definitely off wind.

Very exciting time on board AC III as we reached
over the top of Kingurra who, to their credit, were able
to hoist their shy kite managing to pip us across the line
by one second.

The race was a two lap affair. First lap saw Acrospire III pick up Kingurra on the run to the RMYS E
mark and then lead to the first lap line. A wind shift for the second lap saw Kingurra make the most of
the tight beat from RMYS D to C marks. Being a 96 year old gaff cutter Acrospire III had to drop off on
this beat which gave Kingurra the chance to escape just that bit further to where Acrospire was unable to
pick her off on the run the RMYS mark E,

It was amazing how fast Acrospire managed to close the gap on the leg from C to E, and then continued
to go much more quickly than Kingurra following the rounding of mark E. However once our spinnaker
was up and drawing nicely, we were able to almost match their downwind speed.
For the last few hundred meters we were just keeping our nose in front. I was focused on keeping the
spinnaker trimmed, watching Acrospire inch forward . I knew we were close to the line when our
spinnaker finally collapsed, but was pleased to see we had managed to hold on just long enough. For