King of the Derwent retains crown

The kings of the Derwent have retained their crown after a scintillating display in the annual race.

King of the Derwent, War Games. Picture: Chris Kidd

THE kings has retained their crown.

Maritimo – the Schumacher 54 from Queensland – claimed victory in the Derwent Sailing Squadron’s annual King of the Derwent race for a second year in a row.

Skippers Bill Barry-Cotter, who also owns Maritimo, and Michael Spies steered the boat to the finish line just after 3.30 on Monday afternoon.

“It was a fantastic breeze, as usual, on the Derwent. Probably about 16 knots of breeze so perfect sailing breeze, perfect conditions and a really good quality fleet,” Spies said.

“Backing up from last year, it’s even better. It’s certainly an event we support a lot and whenever we can compete in the King of the Derwent we always do.”

The crew of 16 sailors, led by Barry-Cotter and Spies, clinched line honours and an overall victory in the Melbourne to Hobart race.

King of the Derwent (L-R) War Games, Guilty Pleasures, Off- Piste, Tevake and Currawong start the race. Picture: Chris Kidd

Spies started sailing more than 50 years ago and has been competing in the King of the Derwent race for around 35 years.

The 63-year-old said the Maritimo crew, from the Gold Coast, loved supporting Tasmanian yachting.

“The nucleus has been together for a fair while, you know, we do everything together. We’re a very tight group,” he said.

“It’s my life, it’s my livelihood. The camaraderie, just doing events like this with quality people against quality boats … it doesn’t get much better.”

Race organisers ended up shortening the Derwent River course to allow for predicted thunderstorms, but the rain held off and sailors were treated to “perfect” conditions.

The chance of a storm didn’t put a damper on spirits, with 29 entrants in this year’s race – including crowd favourites Kathy Veel and Bridget Canham, who only two days ago finished the Sydney to Hobart on New Year’s Eve.

Originally published as King of the Derwent retains crown