Sydney yacht Patrice Six, skippered by Tony Kirby, today clinched victory in the IRC division of the Huon Aquaculture Sailing South Regatta with a last race win – with the aid of a crew of mostly Tasmanians.

Kirby, a prominent international ocean racing sailor from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, brought Patrice Six, a Danish designed and built X-41 one design, to Hobart in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

Despite a distant fifth in today's last race of the Huon Aquaculture Sailing South Regatta on Hobart's Derwent River, Stephen Boyes has won the F40 division with Wired.

The last race was started after a delay of an hour and a half because of lack of wind and when it did get underway the breeze swung from an  6 knot easterly to a westerly, freshening sharply to 20 knots.

Stephen Boyes and his yacht Wired's grip on the F40 class in the Huon Aquaculture Sailing South Regatta 2008 has been strengthened by a hard-fought win on Hobart's Derwent River today and the disqualification of rival Andrew Hunn's Voodoo Chile this evening.

Expat Tasmanian yachtsman Roger Hickman today turned on a spectacular display of power sailing to drive the Corby 49 Flirt to victory in the 31 nautical mile Betsey Island Race, the long race of the Huon Aquaculture Sailing South Regatta 2008.

However, Hickman and Limit need to score two more wins on the final day tomorrow to overtake pointscore leader Tony Kirby and his new boat, Patrice Six, a X-41 class yacht from Denmark. Patrice Six would have to finish third or worse on corrected time in both races to lose her advantage.

The Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania’s eighth annual Sailing South Regatta on Hobart’s Derwent River today produced a new winner – in fact, a double winner – in the form of Patrice Six, Tony Kirby’s Danish designed and built X-41.

Patrice Six had its first-ever race in the Rolex Sydney Hobart, the second in yesterday’s King of the Derwent,  and won her third and fourth races in the IRC division of  the Huon Aquaculture Sailing South Regatta 2008.

Sailing South entries excel in King of the Derwent

Tasmanian yacht Pisces and the West Australian owned Limit were the top performers on handicap in today’s Wrest Point King of the Derwent, in an impressive preview for the Sailing Sailing Regatta.

The Huon Aquaculture Sailing Sailing South Regatta starts tomorrow afternoon with yachts from Sydney and Melbourne joining local yachts in this eighth annual event that follows the long ocean races from Sydney and Melbourne.

Pisces, a Sydney 36 skippered by David Taylor from the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, won PHS Division 2 and won the King of the Derwent overall,  while Limit, helmed by expat Tasmanian Roger Hickman from the Cruising Yacht Club of Tasmania took out the IRC division on corrected time.

To The Members of the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania

WIN A TRIP FOR TWO TO TONGA FOR $10,000 Mariner Boating Holidays, Australia’s leading sailing holiday specialist, is pleased to announce it’s sponsorship of the Sailing South Regatta from January 3 – 5 2008 and the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania post-Christmas twilight series from January 17 to March 30.

Club members who own a boat and participate in any of the above races will be eligible for inclusion in a draw for a free trip for two to the 2008 Kalia Cup Yacht Rally in Tonga to be conducted by Mariner Boating Holidays from July 20 to 30. The trip has a value of just under $10,000 and includes airfares from Sydney, 10 days on a yacht during the rally, an extensive social program. One race means 1 ticket; the more races you participate in the more tickets you will have in the draw.