Condor off to fast start

Press, 27 December 1982, Page 18

Condor off to fast start

NZPA Sydney A bold tactical manoeuvre by the skipper, Bob Bell, took the giant sloop Condor of Bermuda away to a magnificent start in the thirtyeighth Sydney to Hobart yacht race yesterday.

Bell, a millionaire insurance broker, squeezed the 23.8 metre Condor, between a flotilla of smaller rival yachts to grab the lead just after the starter’s gun in the 630 nautical blue water classic.

Several times during the tricky manoeuvre Condor was in grave danger of colliding with rivals — missing some by only the barest of margins —' in a hair-raising charge for the starting line. But Beil, displaying characteristic ice-cool nerves under intense pressure in the cold and overcast conditions, stuck rigidly to his plan and the tactics paid off handsomely.: Somewhat bemused by Bell’s audacious ploy, a rival helmsman, Warwick Rooklyn, at the tiller of his father’s green-hulled Apollo coiild do little to peg back Condor in the race to be first through the heads. Rooklyn’s cause was

hampered by the hundreds of spectator craft which crowded his 21.6 metre yacht almost forcing it on to the reef at South Head.

Only quick thinking by Rooklyn prevented what would have been another tragic start for his father. Rooklyn, given the task of guiding Apollo in the tricky passage out of the harbour, gybed franticly to avoid being pushed on to the reef allowing Condor to slip further away. Last year Apollo came to grief only 30 minutes after the start when it snapped its boom just off Bondi Beach and was forced to return home.

Surprisingly, Condor took little more than 15 minutes to round the Heads well ahead of the second placed Margaret Rintoul 111, skippered by Graeme Freeman, with Apollo 50 metres further back in third place. The cloudy conditions and light 10 to 15 knot northeasterly breeze were not expected to favour the bigger yachts but, the sleek varnishhulled Condor, one of the oldest yachts in the fleet of 119 starters, made a mockery of the earlier predictions.

Sporting a new mast and

sails from Bell’s latest yacht Condor 11, Condor of Bermuda bolted right away from the fleet as it set sail for the run south.

Forty minutes into the race Condor had swept to. a handy lead of more than 200 metres over the much smaller Margaret Rintoul 111 and appeared to be leading its rivals a merry chase. The shock of the start was the poor performance of last year’s line honours winner, the 23.5 metre red-hulled Sydney sloop Vengeance. Vengeance, owned by a Sydney businessman, Bernard Lewis, and skippered by David Killett, was one of several maxi-yachts which became badly entangled with smaller rivals during the frantic jockeying for positions prior to the start. Another yacht affected under similar circumstances was the white-bulled Sydney sloop and twice line honours winner of the classic, Doctor Tony Fisher’s Helsal 11. Helsal and Vengeance clearly did not enjoy the lighter conditions that starkly contrasted with last year’s spectacular spinnaker start.

But the surprise packet of the start was that of Freeman at the helm of the dark-

blue hulled Margaret Rintoul.

A prime candidate for handicap honours in the classic, the 15.5 metre Margaret Rintoul was given a near flawless start by the Wily Freeman and at one stage appeared likely to press Condor in the battle to be first through the Heads. A German Frer’s designed sloop, Margaret Rintoul was Australia’s top yacht in the Pan-Am Clipper Cup series earlier in the year, and recently underwent extensive modifications aimed at reducing its rating for the Sydney to Hobart. The pre-race favourite for handicap honours, Sir James Hardy’s well performed Police Car, did not fare anywhere near as well in the starting line congestion. A member of Australia’s triumphant Admiral’s Cup team in 1919 and the winner of five successive ocean races this season, Police Car is a noted performer in much fresher conditions than prevailed for the start of this year’s Sydney to Hobart.

Similarly, the former South African giant Rampant 11, skippered by Alan Tucker, made heavy weather in the opening minutes of the race.