TP52 Pallas Capital Gold Cup Act 2 - Zen Returns and Matador Win at SailFest
by Nic Douglass for @sailorgirlhq 23 Mar 2025 23:50 NZDT
22-23 March 2025
The second Act of the Pallas Capital Gold Cup for the TP52 Australia class took part alongside SailFest from the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club on 22-23 March. Gordon Ketelbey's Zen was welcomed back to the fleet as they continued their Admiral's Cup preparations, showing good form following some recent modifications and the addition of some new faces to the team including Chris Nicholson as Tactician and Tom Addis in Navigation.
"Good way to finish the event, would have loved another race if we could have. And it would have been maybe even closer," said Nicholson of Zen's strong finish.
"That light air is pretty high risk, but we had a great day," he said smiling.
"We dug Tom Addis out of retirement, Navigator's retirement, to come and do this, and we are looking forward to the Admiral's Cup," he finished.
"Good! That is what we want," said Gordon Ketelbey, owner of Zen, of the speed of his boat today in the lighter conditions which are expected on the Solent. "We have been working very very hard at making her more competitive, and we have a bit of a big job to do over there," he said of the Admiral's Cup.
"We beat the mighty Hooligan, and Matador on scratch, twice!" he exclaimed.
"We won both?" he asked when told he had won both of the final races on IRC, "Yes!"
Even with Zen's performance on the final day, David Doherty's Matador continued their Act 1 and 2024 form to take top place on both IRC and TPR handicaps. Zen edged out Marcus Blackmore's Hooligan on IRC and Sebastian Bohm's Smuggler on TPR.
"They came to teach us all a lesson today," said Doherty of Zen's two wins on IRC.
"They're all catching us, who knows what is going to happen. We just keep sailing, and do what we do, and we will see what happens," he finished humbly.
Matador and Hooligan resumed their familiar battle in first and second place following a busy start for the Passage Race, complete with tug boats for the first race of the series. The long beat to the south spread the fleet, with Zen fighting back from a deep start to be fourth across the line, behind Matador, Hooligan, and Peter White's First Light.
Races two and three were windward-leeward courses raced offshore in the steady south-easterly breeze. In ideal TP52 racing conditions, it was the trio of Matador, Hooligan and Zen trading places in the top three, across the line as well as on IRC and TPR. At the end of day one the table saw Matador clearly ahead of Hooligan and Zen on both handicaps.
Day two brought different challenges as a heavy band of raining clouds approached the course at the scheduled start time and on cue, the AP (postponement) flag was raised. Race four eventually got away in a light northerly breeze that shifted through 40 degrees. The experience aboard Zen came to the fore, taking the line and putting pressure on Hooligan on the handicap table.
The final race of the series was even trickier, especially for the stickier boats. Zen backed up their race four performance, with Matador crossing second to secure the double on IRC and TPR. Andrew Kearnan's Koa managed the tough conditions exceptionally well to cross the line fourth, and take second on IRC and first on TPR for the last race, and the overall Corinthian win.
The mixed conditions of the weekend showed again how level the Pallas Capital Gold Cup field is - with all balancing performance, boat handling, and at times damage. Peter White, owner of First Light, said it was a fun but tough weekend with no instruments. The other boat to suffer major damage was Robert Bell's Virago, whose broken runner blocks during race two ruled them out of the rest of Act 2.
Act 3 will be sailed over three days as part of Sail Port Stephens (25-27 April), and Act 4, on Pittwater from Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club (17-18 May).
Thanks to naming rights sponsor Pallas Capital and also to Zhik for their support.