International Cadet Australian Championship - Sandy Bay sailors on top

by Peter Campbell on 3 Jan 2012 International Cadet Australian Championship is being sailed from the Belmont 16ft Skiff Sailing Club at Lake Macquarie, NSW from 27 December 2011 to 4 January 2012.

Two young crews from Hobart’s Sandy Bay Sailing Club tomorrow will duel for an overall victory. With six crews in the top 10 placings, Tasmania is certain to win the Tillet Trophy for State teams.

With two races to sail, only four points separate 14-year-old skipper Charlie Connor and his 8-year-old crew Ethan Galbraith and the all-girl crew of Samantha Bailey (14) and Hannah Chadwick (12), with 10 points to another Sandy Bay crew, Oliver Burnell (14) and Issie De Clerk (11).

Sailing in a seabreeze of 15-17 knots providing testing conditions, the three leading Tasmanian crews yesterday finished first, second and third in the 60-boat fleet.

Samantha Bailey and Hannah Chadwick won race 10 after black-flagged and disqualified from race nine – a rule that penalises premature starters. Fortunately, it’s a discard race as the two teenage girls had not finished worse than seventh in earlier races.

Charlie Connor and Ethan Galbraith had a sixth and a second yesterday while Oliver Burnell and Issie de Clerk placed 7-3 on the penultimate day of the regatta.

The success of the Sandy Bay Sailing team is a significant boost for the off-the-beach club at Nutgrove Beach on the western shore of the River Derwent which next summer will host the National and World Championships for the International Cadet class.

In Brisbane, Jock Calvert, from the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania is fifth overall and first junior sailor in the Australian championships for the International Laser class, today placing fourth and 32nd. Calvert is two places ahead of fellow Hobart sailor Sophie Chesterman who placed ninth and 26th yesterday with the regatta finishing today. Sophie is seventh overall and second-placed woman in the big fleet.

Anna Vaughan, also from the RYCT, had her best result yesterday, a fourth in race eight to be fourth placed youth woman sailor, but she is mid-fleet in overall standings with racing on Moreton Bay from the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron.

Tasmanians are also contesting the Sabot Australian championships at Southport Yacht Club with Thomas Cooper 14th overall, Sam King 15th and Gabriel Morrison 16th in the 65 boat one-up Sabot fleet.

In Perth, WA, Tasmanians Adrian Beswick (Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania) and his crew Clare Cromarty (Tamar Yacht Club) won a heat with Strait4Devils on the opening day of the Australian championships for the high performance B14 class.

In the Australian championships for the International 420 class which ended on Moreton Bay today, Tasmanians Alec Bailey and Nick Brown finished seventh overall, finishing the regatta with a fourth and fifth place in the 32 boat International Cadet Class of Australia website