Aussies fend off Kiwis in 12ft skiff win

by Di Pearson on 14 Jan 2007 A perfect sailing day as Emmett Lazich/Cameron McDonald (CST Composites) took out the first heat of Sail Melbourne’s 12 footer series being sailed at the International Skiff Regatta on Corio Bay in Geelong today.

Fending off a number of challenges from gun New Zealand entry Hamish Hey/Michael Candy (Nice Action) McDonald told: 'We led around the first top mark, then after the wing mark we overlaid the bottom mark and Hamish rounded in front of us. Then they capsized and we overtook, and just as they were closing in on us, they capsized again.

'Those guys are fast. They are quite heavy, so the conditions suited them. 'It was great fun out there today – but hard. We couldn’t see a thing because of all the spray.'

McDonald went on to describe conditions on the Corio Bay course: 'It was really fresh – 15-20 knots, shifty with lots of gusts. We were lucky, we didn’t break anything – lots of others did.

But it was another Kiwi crew, Nathan Bax/Alex Hinton (Bax Contractors) who finished second, Hinton commenting: 'We used our No. 2 rig – it was quite testing – big shifts and big gusts.'

Brett Hobson/Alex Johnson (Garde) kept up appearances of yesterday for a third today, with the lone Queensland entry and Interdominion team members Paul O’Malley-Jones/Richard Billett scoring a fourth place finish from the New Zealand entry MGS, crewed by Russell Davis/Tim Christensen.

A day that started well for top New Zealand pairing Chris Reid/Alex Vallings (Nuplex Maersk) soon went awry. 'We broke our spinnaker pole on the first triangle at the wing mark. We went for the hoist and next thing we were in the water,' Reid reported.

'We were second at the time, but there were more in front of us than behind at the end of the race; I’m glad we managed to finish the race at all, It was a tough call as to which rig to use today – we picked the No. 2, but should have gone with the 3. There was a lot of carnage out there today, I think it will be a late night of repairs for some of the guys' he continued.

Paying tribute to today’s winner, Reid said: 'Emmett had a blinder – but the racing was quite close.'

Most had a story to tell. 'We had a ‘silly’ swim – we just couldn’t get our gybes right today and at the last wing mark we had a swim,' said Michael Spies who was sporting a big bump on the back of his head after the Sydney Acer crew collided with them. 'We were up their till the capsize – which killed us,' Spies lamented.

Some, like Brad Greenrod, crew for Andrew Stephenson on Datacall, totally enjoyed their fairly trouble-free day out. 'We were massively overpowered with our No. 2 rig, but we had a really good day with no damage.

'Every ride was a glamour – I’ve never been to Geelong before, but I’d sail here anytime – it’s a great place to sail. We finished in the top half – I’m happy. I didn’t screw the bung in properly, so we brought home half of Corio Bay in the tanks,' said Greenrod, who couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.

However, it was winner McDonald who had everything to smile about. He and Lazich do not race their boat regularly, due to the skipper’s other sailing and coaching commitments.

As McDonald explained: Our hull is three years old. My brother Joel designed and built it and he made our new Tasman mainsail. We’ve got a new composite rig too – so we are still testing our rig and sails.'

Nor did the pair make yesterday’s Invitation Race, having arrived in Geelong too late. The Sydney based pair have also been working on their two rigs. 'We want to limit ourselves to two rigs, so we are experimenting – we don’t want three or four like the other guys, so it’s taking a bit of time,' McDonald said.

He said that Lazich had come up with a concept involving 18 footer grand prix style sails and 49er type rigs. 'We are bending our rig more and using smaller sails than the others.'

As part of their competition, nine boats each from Australia and New Zealand are sailing for the annual prestigious Interdominion Championship – and event that has spurned many sailing champions.

The New Zealanders have held fast to the Interdominion’s John Brooke Cup for the past nine years and are keen to make it a clean sweep with 10 straight victories.

All up, there are 29 12 footers here in Geelong, competing from host venue, Royal Geelong Yacht Club.

Competitors enjoyed a warm and sunny day of sailing conducted in a mostly southerly breeze with plenty of shifts and gusts to keep all on their toes.

Racing continues tomorrow on Corio Bay, when officials hope to run two races.

12ft Skiff Class ET results -Provisional only after 1st race

Place	Boat Name	From	Elapsd	Skipper	CREW	Score	Fin Tim
1	CST COMPOSITES	NSW	01:07:35	Emmett Lazich	Cameron Mcdonald	0.0	15:22:35
2	BAX CONTRACTORS	NZ	01:11:09	Nathan Bax	Alex Hinton	3.0	15:26:09
3	GARDE	NSW	01:11:34	Brett Hobson	Alex Johnson	5.7	15:26:34
4	GOB SMACKED DWARVES	QLD	01:11:51	Paul O'malley-jones	Richard Billett	8.0	15:26:51
5	MGS	NZ	01:12:04	Russell Davis	Timothy Christensen	10.0	15:27:04
6	GARDE GEOTHERM	NSW	01:12:42	Scott Hobson	Brad Phillips	11.7	15:27:42
7	GIZMO	NSW	01:12:55	Michael Bochner	Tim Barraclough	13.0	15:27:55
8	NICE ACTION	NZ	01:13:27	Hamish Hey	Mike Landy	14.0	15:28:27
9	ACER	NSW	01:15:33	Julian O'mahony	Richard Johns	15.0	15:30:33
10	AS GOOD AS IT GETS	NZ	01:16:00	Glenn Armstrong	Tim Faulkner	16.0	15:31:00
11	FOXY LADY TOO	NSW	01:17:04	Phil Stevenson	James Mccrudden	17.0	15:32:04
12	DATA CALL	NSW	01:18:19	Andrew Stevenson	Brad Greenrod	18.0	15:33:19
13	ROAD KILL	NSW	01:18:51	Ed Cox	Peter Bevis	19.0	15:33:51
14	SIRROMOT	NSW	01:19:48	Michael Spies	Damion Vlotman	20.0	15:34:48
15	DIPOLAR SOFTWARE	NSW	01:20:27	Edward Blackman	Paul Carpenter	21.0	15:35:27
16	HI REV	NZ	01:20:34	Greg Roake	Matt Hart	22.0	15:35:34
17	NUPLEX	NZ	01:20:52	Chris Reid	Alex Vallings	23.0	15:35:52
18	WOOF	NSW	01:22:46	James Walsh	James Birdsall	24.0	15:37:46
19	0	NSW	01:23:42	Jonathan Temple	Richard Jones	25.0	15:38:42
20	VANTAGE REAL ESTATE	NSW	01:23:46	Jack Winning	Brett Phillips	26.0	15:38:46
21	BOAT & YACHT STORE	NSW	01:24:01	Matthew Peat	Paul Wilson	27.0	15:39:01
22	WAY UP	NZ	01:30:05	Jason Parkin	Ben Pefluiter	28.0	15:45:05
23	DIMENSION POLYART	NZ	01:34:16	Simon Ganley	Rod Chave	29.0	15:49:16
24	PINK B	NSW	01:40:22	Nicholas Bernard	Andrew O'brien	30.0	15:55:22
25	STEVE JARVIN MOTORS/	NSW	01:43:06	James Francis	William Chapman	31.0	15:58:06
DNF	FLYING ANIMALS	QLD		James Fleming	Lindsay Stead	37.0
DNF	24/7 PEST CONTROL	NSW		Peter Hill	Steven Hill	37.0
DNF	BREAKING WIND	NSW		Jakub Ronowicz	Chris Urquhart	37.0
DNF	BLOCKBUSTER	VIC		Jock Sinclair	Donald Williams	37.0

Full results available for other fleets at www.sailmelbourne.com.au