Festival of Sails 2013 - ASBA Sports Boats – No rest for the wicked
by Darren Spence on 26 Jan 2013
Mark Griffith’s Viper 640 Circus School - Festival of Sail 2013 Teri Dodds
http://www.teridodds.com
Day three of the Sports Boat event at the Festival of Sails was always going to be the make or break day for the fleet. Three windward leeward races back to back and no room for error. There is no more evidence than this series that consistency across the wind range will plant you at the top of the fleet regardless of design, weight and characteristic of your boat.
The crew on Cam Rae’s Monkey Business started the day second overall after three races only just behind Foam Fast (Paul Heyes) and a few points in front of Vivace (Noel Leigh-Smith). At the end of the day things had changed on the overall leader board and the Monkey Business crew are now clear ahead of the rest of the fleet with a 1,2,2 scorecard and a six point lead after dropping their worst result.
Vivace continues to dominate the line honours race and is yet to be beaten by the boat that dominated last year’s event, Kiss (Greg Scherwinski). Vivace has now also moved into second place overall with results of 2,4,3 today, one point clear of Foam Fast (5,5,6).
Winner of yesterday’s passage race, Circus School (Mark Griffith), proved today that this win was no flash in the pan with two wins in the three races, interrupted by an OCS in the first race of the day. They are now one point behind fourth placed Game On (Julian Newton) and will take all they have learned onto the ASBA Sports Boat NSW Titles at Lake Macquarie in February and National Titles at Royal Yacht Club of Victoria over the Easter weekend.
The breeze today was in the 15-18 knt range and provided some great rides for the fleet with all crews returning to the dock with broad smiles and keen to prove they achieved the bigger stuff-up. The Gill Dry Bag stuff-up of the day award is growing in prestige with each event. Thanks also to Hogs Breath Geelong for hosting over 60 Sport Boat sailors last night – must get them 3 Oceans wine as a thank you.
There are now two races remaining to wrap up the series and with their worst place being a fourth, the Monkey Business crew only need one more top five placing to wrap up the series on their home waters. The battle will then be on for the minor placing with a five point spread between second and fifth.
Race results are here : http://www.topyacht.net.au/results/2013/fos/sports/series.htm
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