Sean Langman's Reichel/Pugh 69, Moneypenny, is the winner of the 2022/23 Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore. Anthony Johnston's Reichel/Pugh 72, URM Group, takes 2nd place overall.
Sean Langman's Reichel/Pugh 69, Moneypenny, is the winner of the 2022/23 Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore. Anthony Johnston's Reichel/Pugh 72, URM Group, takes 2nd place overall.
Langman takes the Jack Halliday Perpetual Trophy, awarded to the overall winner on IRC. In an impressively consistent campaign, Moneypenny finished on the podium in four of the six Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore races.
First up was an overall victory in the 2022 Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race, a third win on IRC for Langman. Moneypenny was then second behind URM Group in the Flinders Islet Race, third in the Tollgate Islands Race and second in the Bird Island Race. The Cabbage Tree Island Race was Moneypenny's drop for the pointscore, finishing 31st as the smaller boats, including two-handers, dominated the top 10.
Moneypenny took a commanding lead into the series finale - the 2022 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race - but still needed a solid finish in the non-discardable race. She won RSHYR IRC Division 0 to finish seventh overall and be crowned Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore champion.
Moneypenny's 2022 RSHYR finish was despite a collision with a wild sunfish on the first afternoon of the Rolex Sydney Hobart. "Going into the great race having quite a handy points lead, there was some trepidation about letting it all go and on the first afternoon we thought it was all over," Langman said. "We heard a very loud bang. We broke one of the wheels, the boat rounded up and fell over. We thought the rudder was broken, because the sunfish was lodged on the rudder. "We backed up the boat, the fish came loose and we thought if we could just finish, we'd salvage something. "I'm very proud of the team and quite chuffed with how we got this old girl going."
Moneypenny finished top of the IRC standings on 14 points, eight points ahead of Anthony and David Johnston's Reichel/Pugh 72 URM Group. She also won the Bass & Flinders Series, awarded to the Line Honours victor. Moneypenny won the Cape Byron Series as ORCi winner, ahead of URM Group and Gweilo. She also took out the Tasman Performance Series after winning on PHS, with Enterprise Next Generation (Anthony Kirke/Andrew Nuttman - winner of PHS Division 1) second and URM Group third.
Anthony Johnston's Reichel/Pugh 72, URM Group, had five top 10 finishes within the pointscore, including an overall victory and new course record set in the 88nm Flinders Islet Race. Skippered by Marcus Ashley-Jones, URM Group beat Moneypenny by just 39 seconds on corrected time in the Flinders Islet Race. URM Group took 43 minutes off the previous record set by David Griffith’s 62 Whisper in the 2021 race. URM took line honors and broke the course record at the 2021 83nm Bird Island Race. URM's time, at an average of 16 knots, smashed the previous records for the 85nm course. Comanche held an open record of 6:08:27 in 2018, and Reichel/Pugh’s Loki set the conventionally ballasted record of 6:38:56 in 2011.
Previous Reichel/Pugh Blue Water Champions include:
- Loki, Stephen Ainsworth (Australia) - 2010/11, 2012/13
VIEW THE FINAL STANDINGS FOR THE 2022-23 AUDI CENTRE SYDNEY BLUE WATER POINTSCORE
IRC OVERALL
- Moneypenny (Sean Langman)
- URM Group(Anthony Johnston)
- Gweilo (Matt Donald)
IRC DIVISION 1
- Moneypenny (Sean Langman)
- URM Group (Anthony Johnston)
- Gweilo (Matt Donald)
ORCi
- Moneypenny (Sean Langman)
- URM Group(Anthony Johnston)
- Gweilo (Matt Donald)
ORCi DIVISION 1
- Moneypenny (Sean Langman)
- URM Group(Anthony Johnston)
- Gweilo (Matt Donald)
PHS
- Moneypenny (Sean Langman)
- Enterprise Next Generation (Anthony Kirke and Andrew Nuttman)
- URM Group (Anthony Johnston)
PHS DIVISION 1
- Enterprise Next Generation (Anthony Kirke and Andrew Nuttman)
- Moneypenny (Sean Langman)
- URM Group (Anthony Johnston)
PHS DIVISION 2
- Crux (Carlos Aydos and Peter Grayson)
- Wild Oats (Brett Eagle)
- Crystal Cutter III (Charles Parry-Okeden)
LINE HONOURS
- URM Group (Anthony Johnston)
- Moneypenny (Sean Langman)
- Gweilo (Matt Donald)
Source: Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore
Photography courtesy of Carlo Borlenghi, Kurt Arrigo and Andrea Francolini