Tasar 2015 Western Australia State Championships overall

by Greg Jennings on 25 Mar 2015 The 2015 Tasar W.A. State Championships had the most entries of any previous W.A. States, with 22 boats entered it was twice the number in previous years. This increase in boat numbers has resulted from recently conducting the World Championships in W.A. which caused more boats to be brought into the State. Both parts one and two of the race series had big fleets, but the weather for Part two at Hillarys Yacht Club provided breakages and an injury, to reduce the number of boats completing the series, which was unfortunate for those involved.

Scott Olsen and Niko Striega on 2937 'Escape Boat' continued their consistent good form to win the last four races to make it five first places in the nine race series, to win the State Championships. Second place went to David Meehan and Peter Brown on 2938 'Critical Path', with third place going to Matt and Leanne Hoffman on 2782 'Fusion'.

The bigger fleets have resulted in more competitive events which has continued to improve the standard of racing skills.

The Club Team trophy was won by Hillarys Yacht Club, and was accepted by their Rear Commodore Sailing Neil Harrison who sails on 2919 'A Day at the Races'.

The first place on Handicap went to Greg Jennings and Berenice Jamieson on 1042 'Wave'. Second place went to Dean and Zoe Dixon on 1651 'Straight Jacket'. Third place went to Trevor Date and Zale Horne on 2915 'Zailing'.

There were lots of humorous stories and some not so funny, about what was happening at each event, and helped to make it a relaxed event off the water. It was good to see everyone interacting well and helping each other when needed with such things as launching and retrieving boats.

Thank you to the many volunteers who helped make the event a success at both venues, especially to Robin Olsen for being Race Officer at Busselton and assisting and mentoring at Hillarys' Race Officer John Porter. Also a special thank you to Sue Olsen for processing the race results at both venues. The prizes and trophies provided by TAWA for the event were well received.

Due to the event being held in two parts, the first in November 2014 in Busselton as part of the 2015 World Championships Test Event, and the second part on 21 and 22 March 2015, not everyone was available for both parts. So the biggest number of boats on the water at one time was 19, which was great to see and also great to sail with. Also there were other boats who were unavailable for the event, so next year we can expect more entries and more fun.