420 National Open Championships - Fresh winds at Splash Festival

by Peter McIntosh on 10 Jan 2016 This year’s 420 National Open Championships were wet and wild and very well named at the Splash Festival 2016.

The week-long regatta, hosted by Woollahra Sailing Club, wound up on Friday on Sydney Harbour.

Conditions were highly challenging with days of rain and at times over 20 knots of breeze and at other times light and shifty breeze testing the 34-strong fleet. It rained a lot but that bright yellow thing in the sky appeared on the final day and all was forgiven.

Two talented Victorian guys dominated as strong breeze and seemingly endless rain ruled the regatta but the impressively consistent winners did not have it all their own way.

Fellow Victorians and the top female crews, along with some red hot visitors from across the Tasman, had plenty to say throughout the keenly contested regatta.

Sailing conditions ranged from strong with swell (and soaked) to light and shifty (and soaked). It was sunny, and shifty, on the last day, though, and that is when the winners had to settle for slightly less glory.

After 10 races the overall winners were the near faultless Nicholas Sharman and James Grogan from Victoria who especially loved the heavier breeze but also placed highly in the lighter stuff. They were followed by the consistent flying Kiwis Josh Berry and Henry Haslett, then third-placed Nick Joel and Hugo Llewelyn from Victoria.

Six wins by the winners helped them post a final points tally of 11, still streets ahead of valiant runners-up Kiwis Josh Berry and Henry Haslett. In third spot were Victorians Nick Joel and Hugo Llewelyn, a single point ahead of the overall girls winners Sophie McIntosh and Emily Summerell, from Gosford, in fourth spot. (That one spot in a regatta like this could make you feel a little cranky!)

But despite not stepping up onto the open results podium, Sophie, 17, and Emily, 15, were naturally thrilled to fight off strong challenges and become the 2016 Australian Open Female Champions.

By winning the females champions trophy, the girls broke a 10-year NSW drought as it has not been in NSW hands since 2005. More importantly for them the victory was the first step in their quest to secure the Australian female 420s representative spot on the Australian team at the next Youth Worlds in Oman. The next selection step is performing strongly at the Australian Youth Championship starting on Sunday (January 10) at the same venue, followed by the final selection regatta, Queensland Youth Week in July.

“Close, shifty, wet, windy,” were the four words Sophie used to sum up the racing. “It was definitely the wettest regatta we have sailed in.”

“We went into the last day of the nationals a point ahead of our nearest rivals, (Madison Taylor and Orla Mulholland-Patterson from Western Australia),” she said.

“We just played the shifts and managed to separate ourselves from the WA girls. It was very busy on the harbour with ferries and powerboats making heaps of waves.”

The first day’s racing was held in the Sound, just inside the harbour headlands where large waves added to the challenge. The girls posted a 12th and a third on day one, numbers they repeated the next day in lighter breeze when the rising swell forced the race officer to move the course further into the harbour off Watsons Bay.

Later in the regatta with the wind again strong the girls experienced their worst two results, not finishing one race when a mainsail baton was lost upon capsize and then falling behind the leaders in another race after sudden gusts knocked several other boats over.

With two drop races accounted for the girls knew they could not afford to record any more high numbers in the final three races. They went into the final day a single point in front of their nearest female rivals determined to finish with a flourish.

They certainly did that, consistently picking the tricky wind shifts to find the lifts and showing great kite-setting skills in moderate breeze and sunshine on Friday. As well as wrapping up the girls title in the final three races they also beat the overall open winners in each of those races with a first and two second placings.

After a great final day of racing the Gosford girls had accumulated 40 points, comfortably ahead of next females Laura Harding and Eleanor Grimshaw from Victoria on 71, with the WA girls finishing another point behind them.

Sophie and Emily were very happy to be in leading position among the girls fleet ahead of the Youth Nationals for sailors aged under 19.

“We still have another regatta coming up so we just have to keep our focus to secure the youth spot,” McIntosh said.

The Splash Festival also involved the 29ers, 49ers and 49erFX classes, with 224 sailors and 110 boats participating. Despite the big wet the hospitality was outstanding and all volunteers and organisers deserve a big hand of applause in difficult circumstances.

In the 29ers John Cooley and Simon Hoffman from NSW totally dominated. In second possie were Tom Crockett and Tom Grimes from NSW and in third spot were Natasha Bryant and Annie Wilmot.

In the 49ers David Gilmour and Lewis Brake were too strong, with the runners up being Joel Turner and Tom Siganto followed by Harry Price and Harry Morton.

It was a similar story of dominance in the 49erFX with Olivia Price and Eliza Solly from NSW dominating over runners up Tess Lloyd and Caitlin Elks from Victoria, followed by the Sydney-Victorian pairing of Hayden Brown and Mackenzie Bird.

Results:

Plc	Sail No	Boat Name (Boat Type)	Skipper/Crew	From	Race 1 3-Jan	Race 2 3-Jan	Race 3 4-Jan	Race 4 4-Jan	Race 5 6-Jan	Race 6 6-Jan	Race 7 6-Jan	Race 8 8-Jan	Race 9 8-Jan	Race 10 8-Jan	Drop	Total
1	55149		Nicholas Sharman James Grogan	MYC/SYC VIC	1	1	6	1	1	1	1	2	5	3	11	11
2	55168		Josh Berry Henry Haslett	MBYC/WYC NZL	7	2	8	2	8	3	2	6	8	1	16	31
3	55160		Nick Joel Hugo Llewelyn	SSCBC/SYC VIC	6	4	2	7	6	2	4	18	21	8	39	39
4	54351		Sophie McIntosh Emily Summerell	GSC NSW	12	3	12	3	5	DNF (35.00)	19	1	2	2	54	40
5	54151		Jayden Dalton Owen Ready	FSC/SOPYC WA	11	5	5	4	11	8	10	14	29	6	43	60
6	53405		Oliver Mavrick Conall Hansford	FSC WA	8	9	7	14	4	11	9	9	7	20	34	64
7	55366		Alexander Higgins Joal Mackenzie	BSYC SA	3	11	4	10	13	29	DNF (35.00)	5	18	7	64	71
8	55159		Laura Harding Eleanor Grimshaw	BYS VIC	13	13	16	19	3	4	18	8	9	5	37	71
9	55158		Hayden Harding Casey Bates	BYS VIC	2	15	15	8	12	7	5	15	13	10	30	72
10	52420		Madison Taylor Orla Mulholland-Patterson	SOPYC WA	DNF (35.00)	6	1	6	16	10	16	3	15	19	54	73
11	52786		Dante Olivieri Alex Marzano	IYC/PKSC NSW	9	16	19	5	2	14	6	23	4	23	46	75
12	51985		Stephen Hancock Sam Worrall	MHYC/NSC NSW	4	18	9	30	15	13	12	19	6	4	49	81
13	53153		Matt Meaney Sam Magarey	BSYC SA	5	12	17	12	17	9	25	4	10	13	42	82
14	55150		Stan Austin Kristian Tipovsky	MYC VIC	24	7	24	15	7	5	7	13	14	26	50	92
15	55166		Sophie Jackson Ella Sharman	MYC VIC	10	20	29	24	10	6	3	28	3	17	57	93
16	53661		Joshua Pang Liam Forrester	FSC/RFBYC WA	20	10	11	21	14	18	11	10	11	12	41	97
17	52363		Courtney Reynolds-Smith Brianna Reynolds-Smith	Murrays Bay YC NZL	16	14	20	9	9	20	8	11	20	11	40	98
18	51577		James Hacket Ethan O'Brien	BYC VIC	15	UFD (35.00)	10	11	DNF (35.00)	21	15	7	22	9	70	110
19	54348		Angus Higgins Josh Tonkin	BSYC SA	18	UFD (35.00)	3	18	24	19	17	17	12	18	59	122
20	55167		Charlotte Griffin Chelsea Connor	MHYC/RPAYC NSW	17	8	DNF (35.00)	16	21	27	22	12	24	16	62	136
21	55152		Caroline Brown Jake Purcell	SYC VIC	14	22	21	22	22	12	13	29	26	24	55	150
22	51978		Alex Margarey Matt van Riel	Brighton and Seacliff YC VIC	19	25	30	13	23	15	14	25	19	29	59	153
23	54203		Charlie Dixon Luke Telford	SSCBC VIC	21	24	26	OCS (35.00)	28	16	20	31	1	21	66	157
24	54846		Alice Haslett Annabel Cave	WBC NZL	27	17	18	17	18	22	21	33	31	25	64	165
25	54607		Lauren Gallaway Sarah Bartells	MHYC NSW	25	26	13	29	29	17	26	27	17	27	58	178
26	54575		Jess Tavener Claire Byrne	MHYC NSW	29	19	22	25	25	23	DNF (35.00)	26	25	14	64	179
27	52715		Joshua Hinks Alex Newman	ASC NSW	22	21	23	20	DNF (35.00)	24	24	22	23	31	66	179
28	54216		Ainslea Kipling Wesley Kipling	South of Perth YC WA	23	23	28	23	26	26	23	20	27	22	55	186
29	52714		Jaz Hackett Peter Hackett	BYS VIC	26	UFD (35.00)	14	OCS (35.00)	20	30	OCS (35.00)	24	28	15	70	192
30	55368		Sam Abel Nick Smart	SBSC TAS	DNF (35.00)	DNF (35.00)	DNC (35.00)	DNC (35.00)	19	25	DNF (35.00)	16	16	28	70	209
31	54349		Anna Obrien Georgina Blochlinger	McCrae YC VIC	28	28	27	27	27	DNF (35.00)	DNC (35.00)	21	32	32	70	222
32	52446		Stephen White Jordan White	Frankston VIC	31	27	31	26	30	28	DNF (35.00)	DNC (35.00)	DNC (35.00)	DNC (35.00)	70	243
33	53151		Emma Lidgett Ted Danks	DBYC VIC	30	29	25	DNF (35.00)	DNC (35.00)	DNC (35.00)	DNC (35.00)	30	30	30	70	244
34	52717		Maia Schnaars Bella Campion	BSYC SA	32	RET (35.00)	32	28	DNC (35.00)	DNC (35.00)	DNC (35.00)	32	33	33	70	260