Cockburn Sound Regatta - Final day overall
by Bernie Kaaks on 31 Dec 2014
Eun-na-Mara buries her lee gunwale in a stiff sea breeze. She won line honours in every race. Bernie Kaaks
In perfect sailing conditions the Cockburn Sound Regatta finished with all classes sailing around the buoys in Mangles Bay in full view of a gallery of invited guests on the TCYC balcony.
Skates returned to the western side of the bay to resume their national championship after a postponement in strong winds two days ago, leaving the remainder of the bay open to the big boat fleets.
South of Perth yachtsman Craig Macdonald was the happiest man in WA today when he took out the overall trophy for the regatta after a super performance in the jib and main division. Macdonald’s Hanse 400e River Run replaced his S&S39 Sunseeker, which also sailed in the regatta with her new owner Jamie Gavin at the helm.
Two veterans in the Classic division were also the giants of the fleet – Ralph Newton’s Eun-na-Mara, launched in 1907 and Gary Martin’s nine metre Acrospire, launched in 1927. Matched against a group of H28’s, the bigger boats were in their element in lighter breezes, but when the wind was up, the little H28’s were more than competitive. Eun-na-Mara was having her first regatta since a major restoration and proved more than a match for Acrospire, winning line honours in every race and winning the handicap trophy by six points. John Wright’s Herreschoff 28 Anna was third on a countback after finishing equal on points with Acrospire.
Division one was dominated by Laurie Flynne’s Beneteau 34.7, Dynamic, which won the final race and the series ahead of Brian Todd’s Marten 49 Sue Sea and Peter Hickson’s Ker39 M.E. II. Dynamic also won on IRC handicap.
Ally Mounsey’s Austral 24 Lokman won Division Three, beating John Percy’s Bonanza by a single point. Colin Jones Anelaua was third, completing a trifecta for local Rockingham yachts.
Hillarys yacht Hard Evidence, sailed by Des Riley was second to River Run in the jib and main fleet with Jane Law’s Ambience in third place.
Kite boards were a new innovation in this regatta. Accepted on an experimental basis, the kites loved the conditions and any concerns about how they would integrate with conventional sailing craft were put to rest very quickly. Eneour Puille-Stephan gave a demonstration of perfect kite board racing, winning all nine races with his foiling board, ahead of Andrew Cooksey also on a foiler and Damien Gough on a Formula board. Gough was also unbeaten in the non-foiling Formula division.
Dieter Strauss was rewarded with a series win by winning the final race of the series, to beat Peter Henley’s Cutty Wren by a single point. Ole Otness took third place in The Longboat.
The Sports boat fleet was an interesting mix of yachts, including a Paralympic Sonar keelboat, an Etchells, a new J70 keelboat as well as conventional sports boats from the design boards of New Zealanders Thompson and Elliott. Paralympic medallist Jamie Dunross finished second to the Etchells Rhythm and Booze by a single point, but was forced to miss a race after a crewman seriously injured an ankle after falling across the boat when it heeled sharply, causing him to slip across the width of the boat and landing awkwardly on his ankle. The Elliott 7 Need for Speed, sailed by Jacob Birch, filled third place.
Off the beach craft added a wonderful new dimension to this year’s Cockburn Sound Regatta, reminiscent of its glory years of the sixties and seventies. The Skate class national championship continues into January, but the inclusion within the regatta framework of Minnow dinghies and kite boards was a master stroke for the organisers and augurs well for the future of this increasingly popular event, which will continue to enjoy the support of the Kwinana Industries Council and the local Rockingham City as it sets about planning for 2015.
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