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Strong fleet for Rolex Trophy

Strong fleet for Rolex Trophy
Ginger - Rolex Trophy - Rating Series Day 1

Strong fleet for Rolex Trophy

Sydney yachtsman Ray Roberts obviously can’t get enough of offshore yacht racing - the Rolex Trophy - Rating Series stqrting tomorrow will be this third regatta in just over a week.

Sydney yachtsman Ray Roberts obviously can’t get enough of offshore yacht racing.

For most of last week he was in Malaysia contesting, and winning, the King’s Cup Regatta off the famous resort of Phuket, with the chartered DK46, Quantum Racing Drumstick.

Then he flew back to Sydney to steer his Farr 40 One Design yacht, also named Quantum Racing, in the last two days of the Rolex Trophy – One Design Series off Sydney Heads, finishing fourth overall.

Tomorrow he will be back at the helm of another yacht named Quantum Racing, his own DK 46, in the Rolex Trophy – Rating Series, also off Sydney Heads. 

This boat is also representing Australia, along with Stephen Ainsworth’s Reichel/Pugh 60 Loki, in the Rolex Challenge international teams series which is decided on results in the Rolex Trophy – Rating Series and the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

The four-day Rolex Trophy – Rating Series comprises of eight races to be sailed this coming Thursday, 15 December through to Sunday, 18 December.  There will be two IRC rating handicap divisions, with results decided on corrected time:

· Division 0 for yachts with a minimum IRC rating of 1.395. This includes such boats as Alfa Romeo, Wild Oats X,I Konica Minolta, Loki and Vanguard. In reality, these boats are between 15m and 30m LOA (length overall)
· Division 1 for yachts with a minimum IRC rating of 1.210 and less than 1.395, including such boats as Quantum Racing and Fuzzy Logic.  These are boats from 14m LOA to 15m LOA,

While the Rolex Trophy is a stand-alone regatta for individual yachts, most of them entrants for the 2005 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, it is a key component of the Rolex Challenge teams series and a significant pointer to the IRC handicap prospects in the Rolex Sydney Hobart.

Teams in the Rolex Challenge international teams event must include one boat from each division and, in addition to the Australian team, there will be two-boats representing New South Wales, Victoria and possibly an international team.

The imported Corby 49 Flirt, skippered by Chris Dare, and the ILC 40, Fuzzy Logic, owned by Paul Roberts and Bill Lennon, have been chosen to represent Victoria while the International team and possibly two New South Wales teams will be announced later today.

Apart from the team boats, yachts in the Rolex Trophy – Rating Series that will be contesting the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race include the three 30m maxi yachts, Alfa Romeo (Neville Crichton), Wild Oats XI (Bob Oatley) and Konica Minolta (Stewart Thwaites). 

Also lining up is Goldfinger, the former Ichi Ban, now owned by Victorians Peter Blake and Kate Mitchell, Syd Fischer’s Farr 50 Ragamuffin, Geoff Ross’s Judel/Vrolijk 52 Yendys, John Cameron’s Dibley 42  Fincorp More Witchcraft,  David Pescud’s Kaz and Living Doll from Victoria, the Cookson 50 with a canting keel, owned by Michael Hiatt.

Among the prominent non-Hobart entrants are Ginger (Leslie Green), Infinity III (Martin James), Nips N Tux (Howard De Torres) and Vanguard (Dick Cawse).