“We shall fight off the beaches … and we shall never surrender” may well have been the catchcry of Rockal Evans’ skipper David Doherty’s TP52 Matador as it charged like a bull towards its second consecutive Pallas Capital TP52 Gold Cup victory at SailFest Newcastle Regatta.
Racing in Stockton Bight, with sand and surf stretching beyond sight, the CYCA entry took home the TP52 series by 8 points, the IRC title by 4 points and also the scratch results with two firsts and a second placing across the line.
The 2nd place finish in the 25 nautical mile passage race was followed with three perfect windward-leeward scores on the class-based TPR handicap and a 1, 1, 2 on IRC.
“The secret was no mistakes,” Doherty said modestly. “The boat’s fast and we just had a great day. Everyone has been working well together and we’re gradually updating the boat and changing our systems. It all panned out well.
“This is a 2009 model but it was a good boat when it was new and we keep modernising it. It suits the windward-leeward format as well, but we work hard and we’ve got a good crew.”
Finishing second overall on TPR and IRC was Gweilo, the overnight leader, and skipper Matt Donald was pleased with the results, given it was such tight racing among the 10 boats.
“It doesn’t get much better than that, and we thoroughly enjoyed it,” he said. “Our boat prefers to stretch its legs on the passage races, and we had a cracking result on day 1, but today was pretty good.
“Matador, Smuggler and Secret Men’s Business are hard to beat in that format. When you have 10 boats on the start line, it’s so important to get clear air, and anyone who got away early today was generally in a strong position.”
Minor placings went to Smuggler (TPR) and Secret Men’s Business (IRC).
