Testing Conditions for 2010 OAMPS Victorian Youth and Junior Regatta

by Jane Moffat on 20 Apr 2010 Sailors and race officials were tested over the weekend with light winds dominating the 2010 OAMPS Victorian Youth and Junior Regatta.

Saturday saw the Optimist and Minnow Green fleets completing five races on their course and all other classes completing three expect for the open Optimist fleet who managed two. Sunday the main fleet got one race in to ensure a series before the wind disappeared and the fleet was sent ashore and in some cases towed.

As expected James Sly and Andrew Gillies dominated the 29er fleet only missing a straight set of first places when Tess Lloyd and Rebecca Tuma took first in the fourth race. Lloyd and Tuma's score line was looking good until the last race when they were OCS and with another in the first race they had to score one which crashed them down to finish fifth overall.

Sinead and Lachlan Stone from Yarrawonga and Mitchell Cittadini and Thomas Dwyer finished second and third with a consistent set of results and no OCS, which was the score that made the difference for the fleet. Those who had at least one OCS found themselves in the middle of the fleet and those with two were at the bottom. With light winds and not many races run it was not the event to have to score an OCS at.

The new pairing of James Oliver and Tim Hannah held off Tasmanian's Alec Bailey and Henry Goodfellow to finish first in the 420 fleet and to take the Victorian State title as well. Thomas Klemens and Will Lewellyn were the second placed Victorians finishing fifth overall, with Kate Hannah and Lewis Duncan third, finishing over seventh overall.

In the 4.7 fleet there was some tight racing between the top three with the lead changing over the course of the two days. Thomas Vincent finished first on five points with Natasha van Rennes second on count back with six points and Lachlan Imeneo third. The score line in the 4.7 fleet shows that when a race drop comes into play the lead switches. Imeneo's total point score was nine compared to Vincent's 10 but with a first and two seconds to score Vincent took first compared to Imeneo scoring line of first, second and third.

Jack Graves dominated the Optimist open fleet finishing first on four points from Thomas Trotman in second and James McLennan in third.

Charlie Dixon held off Hugo Llewelyn to finish first in the open Minnow fleet with Gemma Burns finishing third.

Harrison Sly dominated the Optimist Green fleet following in the footsteps of elder brother and 29er sailor James. Finn Hartnett was second and Romy Abbott third. Dara Martin took first in the Minnow Green fleet.

While waiting for the racing on Sunday there was boat swapping and capsizing a plenty and James Neeson on his Bic Techno was in demand from other sailors wanting a try.

Thanks go to event sponsors OAMPS Insurance brokers, Zhik, Ronstan, Quantum Sails and of course to the volunteers from Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club for ensuring a successful event. Make a note in your diary as the event will be at Sorrento again in April 2011.