Downwind flyer Grundig proved herself an outstanding all-round racing yacht today when she took the double of line and IRC handicap honours in race three, a 40 nautical mile race from Hobart to Storm Bay and back.
Owner/skipper Sean Langman described the winds today as
"fresh to frightening," with a wipe-out by the 66-footer as the crew gybed the boat near Betsey Island on the way to the Isle of Caves in Storm Bay.
"We laid her on her side for a brief period which probably cut our lead over the fleet by half a mile before we got her going again," Langman said back at the RYCT.
"It's only the third time we have had a wipe-out with this boat."
Grundig missed the start by about five minutes, having to gybe and go astern of a blanket of boats coming in towards the pin end of the line on starboard tack when the fresh breeze suddenly eased.
"As it was, it turned out to be to our benefit; we could see where the best breeze was as we came from astern and managed to overtake Ichi Ban before the Garrow," he added.
Grundig won today's race from Hobart yacht B52, skippered by Hughie Lewis, third going to Ichi Ban (Matt Allen) which parked for 45 minutes off Taroona, only four miles from the finish.
However, Ichi Ban still leads IRC division of the seven race series on 264 points, with B52 on 258 points and Grundig third on 256 points.
In the PHS division, first place on corrected time today went to Redback (David O'Neill) from Quality Equipment (Alf Doedens) and the veteran sloop Lock on Wood (Peter Geeves) which leads the PHS pointscore on 299 points from Patrick (Brian Furmage) on 297 points and Silver Mist (Bruce Palmer) on 293 points.
In the Sports Boats Division 1, Muir Race (Matthew Johnston) won today's race to head the pointscore with 272 points, just ahead of Another Girl Another Planet (David Shepherd) and ABN Ambro Morgans (Bruce Calvert) both on 271 points.
In the Cruiser Division, Alibi II (Rod Williams) leads with 271 points after scoring two wins and a second, with Mischief (Adrian West) on 269 points and Madman's Woodyard (Adrian Petersen) third on 262 points.