Consistent sailing is paying dividends so far in all racing divisions of the 2004 Boags Sailing South Race Week, the seven-race annual regatta that follows the long ocean races to Hobart from Sydney and Melbourne.

The 70-boat fleet heads into race four tomorrow, a distance race down the Derwent River and into the open waters of Storm Bay following today’s lay day.

After one distance race and two windward/leeward races on the harbour, only one point separates the 20-year-old Tasmanian timber 40-footer Intrigue (Don Calvert) and the two-year-old carbonfibre 52-footer Ichi Ban (Matt Allen) from Sydney in the IRC handicap division.

On corrected time, with only seconds the margin, Intrigue, in which Calvert represented Australia at the Admiral’s Cup in 1985, has won two races and placed second in the other race to have 4 points on the board.

Ichi Ban has had a win and two seconds to be on 5 points, with another Sydney boat, Pitch Black (David Kellett) on 9 points from three third placings.

Racing in the IMS handicap division has so far produced three different winners, with the consistency of the Mumm 36, Tequila Slamma (John Radonic) in placing 1-3-2 giving her a clear pointscore lead on 6 points.

In second place on 10 points is Harold Clark’s Farr 1104, Invincible, with placings of 6-1-3, while third on 12 points is Craig King’s Lyons 40-footer, Interum.

Racing is close in both PHS divisions, with different winners in each of the three races sailed so far.

In PHS Division 1, Josh Ey’s Jones 40, Quetzalcoatl, designed by Don Jones, the designer of Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honours winner Skandia, shares first place with with the Payne 39, It Happens, skippered by Stephen Boyes.

Quetzalcoatl has placed consistently with a scorecard of 3-5-3 while It Happens has scored 4-6-1 to both be on 11 points, one ahead of the Kauffman 40, Redback, skippered by David O’Neill has placed 6-4-2 so far in the regatta.

In PHS Division 2, Saga, the syndicate-owned Dubois 31, leads with 9 points from placings of 2-6-1 from Michael Denney’s Young Rocket 31, Wild West (6-4-3) and Huon Yacht Club entry Wildfire (1-5-9), a Kaufman 9.9 skippered by Scott Sharp on 15 points. Equal fourth on 16 points are Audacity (Ian & Penny Stewart) and Buggbear (Ron Bugg).

The Tamar River boat Shoot the Dog, an Elliott 7 skippered by Richard Fisher, has a commanding points lead in the Sportsboat Division after a third on Saturday and two wins yesterday to be on 5 points.

Max Power, a Thompson 7 skippered by West Australian Steve Battley, is second on 12 points from placings of 8-2-2, while ABN Amro Morgans, Bruce Calvert’s Thompson 8, is third on 12 points with a scorecard of 2-3-8.