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Andrew Stanton writes, ‘The stiff Southerly made for an interesting Friday night race for Love Child, right from the start. The wind was blowing straight into Neutral Bay, creating a choppy and occasionally wet ride, making crew transfers awkward for most sailors.

The wind was gusting to 25 knots with bullets, so we started with a reef in our mainsail and headed towards Bradley's Head on a starboard tack. We lost a little time at Bradley's Head as another yacht on a port tack had run out of room and was unable tack to give way to us. Nonetheless, we made good time to NB3 and shook out the reef once we had rounded the mark.

We headed to BB, running with the wind, tracking behind Ciara and Lorelei. Lorelei had to repeat its pass at BB, allowing us to move into second place, behind ‘Ciara’.

A good beat to Shark Island followed, with Hector beside us. We pressed on almost to the lighthouse, before turning South into Rose Bay, running along the Eastern shore of the island and getting clear of Hector. Tacking towards the mark had us pointing as high as we could to make the turn and then run home to Kirribilli.

We managed to gain on Ciara, passing them into the final leg. Usually, at this point, the wind eases off for us, and we watch as everyone catches and passes us, but not tonight. We held our lead to the finish line, with Ciara in second place right until the last few meters, when Hector slipped past them.”

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Richard Hammond receiving this week's Sail Racing Prize presented by Captain Robert Dickson