Island Hops Wins 2022 Halyard Challenge

The 2022 Halyard Challenge saw 8 boats take to the race course on Saturday 29 January. With light winds under 12 knots it was to be a challenging day for the six trimarans, scheduled for mixture of island racing and windward leeward courses.

The first race took the fleet from a start line in Road Harbour, past Hog Valley Red to starboard and Dead Chest to port before heading up to a finish line set to the west of Cooper Island. Mark Sanders’ Corsair 31 Island Hops set their intention for the day, taking their first of four line honours finishes and the race win.

Race two was the first of the windward leeward races with a short course set between Cooper Island and Salt Island. A deliciously challenging piece of water with interesting wind shifts, holes and the odd navigational distraction. The first race went to Ting a Ling with one lap of the course completed. Island Hops came in second and Lucky 7 third.

Race three was set for two laps of the course and it was Barney Crook and his team on Airgasm who took the win. Getting away cleanly from the get go, they led around the course until the final seconds when the larger Island Hops pipped them for the gun. The win on corrected time was secured for Airgasm with Ting a Ling taking another second and Island Hops third.

The final race of the day, after everyone had dragged themselves away from the delights of Cooper Island Beach Club, was a downwind drag race back to Road Harbour. It was all to play for between Island Hops and Ting a Ling as just one point separated their overall scores.

Sanders and his crew of Richard Wooldridge, Colin Rathbun and Steve Davis took the final victory and with it the overall win. Tied on points with Ting a Ling after four races they clinched it on countback with two race wins to Haycraft’s one. Sam Talbot on Trike saved their best until last taking third in the final race but retiring from race one due to sailing the wrong course put a dent in their score card they could not recover from.

Cruising Class
The cruising class were set to race out of Road Harbour around Ginger Island and finishing off Cooper but due to the light winds the course was shortened to round Copper instead. Becky and Kanga’s Jeanneau 42 Aira was not surprisingly first home after 2 hours and 17 minutes of racing and had done enough to take the win on corrected time from Wicked Winch.

The second race for the cruisers was a straight shoot out from the start line off Cooper Island to Road Harbour and this time it was David Lake’s Hunter 30 Wicked Winch who claimed the win

Thank you to Cooper Island Beach Club for donating fantastic prizes and keeping everyone fed and watered and to the Race Committee Team of Bob, Linda and Don.

Results
Trimarans
1. Island Hops (Corsair 31) – Mark Sanders – 7pt
2. Ting a Ling (Corsair 27) – Chris Haycraft – 7pt
3. Airgasm (Corsair Sprint 760R) – Barney Crook – 14pt
4. Lucky 7 (Corsair 750) Eddie Brockbank – 17pt
5. Trike (Corsair 31) Sam Talbot – 21pt
6. Whoop Whoop (Corsair 27) – Gerard Krrakman – 21pt

Cruising
1. Aira (Jenneau 42 DS) – Becky & Kanga
1. Wicked Winch (Hunter 30) – David Lake