Natural talent

David and Andrew Lynch have taken the lead in the West Offshore Products Coastal Sprint Series.

27 April 2021

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Father and son duo David and Andrew Lynch have taken the lead in the West Offshore Products Coastal Sprint Series, hosted by the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria (ORCV) following a second place in the third race.

Despite 40 years of experience racing together, the duo is relatively new to ocean racing – Andrew’s launching of the pair’s Northshore 369 Pegasus in the ORCV’s new Category 3 series representing his first offshore race.

“We’ve had two boats. We co-owned an 11-metre One-Design, Blue Tack, and now we have Pegasus,” said Andrew.

We’ve been racing [Pegasus] together for two years, but this is our first offshore series with it. 

“Dad was the teacher and me the pupil. It’s a good father and son team. We have a good partnership and share the helm.”

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With a one-point lead over Justin Brenan’s Alien, both Andrew and David are pinning their hopes for a solid result in the final race, currently scheduled in Apollo Bay for 22 May.

“We had close race with Alien until they took off from us on the downwind leg after bravely putting up a chicken chute. They just took off,” added Andrew.

“They had sensational race, nailing the rhumbline, sailing deep and fast on the downwind. And they had a brilliant upwind leg too.”

Andrew would later go on admit that “the series will probably come down to the three of us – Alien, Pegasus and Ca Bouge” later adding that “better preparation next time and a little bit more preparedness to take a risk” are needed to take on the more confident and experienced Alien.

Ca Bouge, owned by Aaron Marlow, is currently in third place, and five points behind Pegasus, following a third place in Race 3.

“We’re all very conscious of not getting ahead of ourselves,” said Andrew.

But despite a close second place, Brenan, who is also ORCV’s Vice Commodore and Sailing Captain, couldn’t be happier with the West Offshore Products Coastal Sprint Series – the concept of the event being his initially. 

“I wanted to promote a steppingstone approach to ocean racing with more Category 3 races, which supports people getting into ocean racing,” he said.

“We did a fair bit of research and looked at three things: Category 2 racing has time pressures on it and the fleet numbers declining – all to do with time – so what we wanted was something that required no more than a single day commitment.

“The other problem was we needed a pathway to ocean racing – a skills thing – so we needed a progression. You can’t go from bay racing straight into ocean racing without some experience.

“Third, we wanted Category 3 racing in its own right. Two thirds of the fleet in the bay are not interested in longer offshore races.” 

Brenan would go on to say that organising offshore events wasn’t easy: “As we have to take tides and other clubs’ races into account. All the top end clubs have been very cooperative, for which we are thankful.

“Our first Category 3 race had seven boats and we had 22 starters this weekend. The program is working. We have 42 boats entered for the series in total – including 18 first-timers.”

Of his Race 3 win, Brenan said: “It’s about preparation, getting the right gear and having good crew and good sails. The Pegasus guys have a good boat and sail it well. They’ll do alright and might become future champions.”

See the full results on the Race 3 of the West Offshore Products Coastal Sprint Series here

 

orcv.org.au

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