Derwent Sailing Squadron

By Peter Campbell

Bellerive Yacht Club member Harold Clark has begun yet another decade of winning harbour races in Hobart with his appropriately named, always well-sailed Invincible, winning the 2010 Sargisons Jewellers King of the Derwent.

The Farr 1104 sailed through a 35-40 knot rain squall (some boats recorded gusts of 48 knots) to convincingly take out the iconic race, sailed each year on Hobart’s River Derwent in the wake of the ocean races from Sydney, Melbourne and Launceston.

The unpredicted squall, that swept down from Mount Wellington 20 minutes after the start of the 18 nautical mile race around the harbour, almost immediately forcing 14 of the 47 starters to retire, including last year’s winner, the Farr 40 Voodoo Chile.

The King of the Derwent is decided on IRC handicap results, with Invincible winning the division by 6 minutes 44 seconds from Archie, Sally Rattle’s Archambault  35,  from the conducting club, the Derwent Sailing Squadron.

Third overall in the IRC division was David Creese’s DK46 Dekadence, also from the BYC.

However, Sally got a bonus, as the first woman on IRC corrected time, she received the sponsor’s special prize – a $2000 diamond pendant especially made by the King of the Derwent sponsors, Sargisons Jewellers. A second diamond pendant was won by Sue Windas, a crew member of LOYAL, Sean Langman’s 100-footer which was line honours winner of the King of the Derwent Race.

Invincible also won the AMS division from two Victorian yachts, Ingenue (Rosie Colahan) and Godzilla (Tom Fowler), again by more than six minutes on corrected time.

This is Invincible’s fifth win in the King of the Derwent, having previously taken out  the coveted title in 1993, 1995, 1999 and 2000. 

With Invincible not eligible for any other IRC prizes, Archie also took first place in the IRC division from Dekadence and David Taylor’s Sydney 36 Pisces from the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania.

Overall winner of the PHS division was another local yacht, Helsal III, skippered by Rob Fisher, from the RYCT, surviving a protest by Pisces over a starting line incident. 

PHS Division 1 was won by the LOYAL from the Victorian yachts Jazz Player (Andrew Lawrence) and Veloce (Phil Simfendorger) while Trouble (Dave Willans) won Division 2 from Atilla, skippered by John Hunn, who had a better day than his son Andrew at the helm of Voodoo Chile. Third place went to Slinky Malinsky (Eric Marsh).

The Sargisons Jewellers King of the Derwent also decided the Sovereign Series and Salamanca Series for the ocean races from Melbourne,  the West Coaster and the East Coaster, and the Tasports Series for yachts that contested the Sargisons Launceston to Hobart Race.

The Tasports Series for aggregate points in the Sargisons Launceston to Hobart, including the Beauty Point to Low Head dash, and finally, today’s Sargisons King of the Derwent,   saw a overall wins to Pisces (David Taylor) in IRC and Whistler (David Rees) in both the PHS (Bruce Watson Memorial Trophy) and AMS divisions.

The Heemskirk Salamanca East Series, comprising the Cock of the Bay on Melbourne’s Port Phillip, the M2H East Coast race and the King of the Derwent was won by Phil Simpfendorfer’s new Greg Elliott-designedd 44-footer Veloce.  The Sovereign Series, comprising the Cock of the Bay, the M2H West Coaster and the King of the Derwent, was won by Audacious,  Greg Clinnick’s Sydney 38 from Royal Brighton Yacht Club.