sail-world.com -- The third and final day at the Yachting NSW Youth Championships
The third and final day at the Yachting NSW Youth Championships
Wed, 3 Oct 2012
The third and final day at the 2012 Nautilus Marine Yachting NSW Youth Championships brought sunny weather and light wind after the mixed conditions of the first two days. Keeping the competitors on shore right up until 10:00am to ensure that the breeze had settled in, the race officers brought them out into a relatively steady 10 knots.
The Youth Champs is one of the largest youth sailing regattas in Australia and has been growing each year. 2012 saw over 275 individual sailors on 200 boats spread across twelve classes. Teams from Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and the Act were on the water battling the New South Wales crews for the medals and were providing some stiff competition.
Race officer Jeremy Atkinson from Woollahra Sailing Club was running course A with the Sabots, Optimists, Flying Ants, Open Bics, and Bic Techno 293s and was very impressed with the quality and attitude of the sailors.
'On day two they had to wait on the water for up to three hours to get a race in. The support boats kept them well supplied with water, and I was impressed with the focus they all had. Ready to race when the breeze settled, we got five races away that day for most of them.' Atkinson said.
Phil Yeomans from Middle Harbour Yacht club had also volunteered his time to run course B. Course B had the Lasers, Flying 11s, 420s, and 29ers. Big fleets with the Flying 11s fielding over forty crews.
'Over 50 starts over the weekend, big effort!' commented Yeomans. Though he also made a comment about the first day when the start boat was left on the water waiting for the wind to die down. 'We were waiting for things to settle. We started to have our doubts the young sailors were going to get any sailing in when we saw 34.8knots…'
The top three in the Sabot 1-Up fleet has been moving around each day as the sailors adjusted to the varying conditions. Jed Fatches (NSW) took first place overall on Black Pearl after being placed third on the first and second day. Just one point behind on 25 was Sang Jin Goodridge (NSW), and Jordan Makin (NSW) in third on 27 points showing just how close all ten races were.
In the Sabot 2-Ups, Thomas Larkings and Eve Peel (NSW) have held onto first place over Sebastion Majarian (NSW) who placed second for the regatta.
Forty six Optimists made an impressive site as they came around the course in this popular and hotly contested class. These future Olympians gave no quarter at all as they did battle and the local sailors got bit of a surprise as their cousins from up North dominated the points.
Max Quirk (QLD) took his Optimist to a convincing win on just eleven points over fellow Queenslander Cameron Gise on 26 points. Third placed Blake Selley was the first of the NSW sailors home in third place, with Victorian James Grogan taking fourth and another Queenslander, Eva Lorenz in fifth on 42 points.
The Optimist silver fleet was all NSW however with Cian Campbell in first, Alana Wodriz in second, and Ben Brewer on his eye catching Red Baron rounding off the top three.
The Flying Ants did not race on day one but made up for it getting nine races in over the next two days. Patrick Corbett and Bradley Bower (NSW) showed excellent form with only one second place to appear alongside their string of firsts. Lachlan and Mitchel Nardone (NSW) have held onto second, whilst Scott Kopperlhuber and Michael Walsh (NSW) have nudged their way into third overall.
On the Open Bics local twins Tom and Jessica Grimes have held onto their first and second placings throughout the regatta to take home the medals. With just four points between them they had a comfortable gap over Margot Mason (NSW) who placed third on 23 points.
The Bic Techno 293 boards had just three competitors in the 2012 regatta. Each sailor might well have been guaranteed a place but complacency is not something they tend to consider. Annalise Gilbert has sailing blood in veins and she showed the two lads a thing or two as she took first place over all on 11 points. Close behind her was fellow NSW sailor Antoine King on 15 points, and Jock Calvert who had made the trip up from Tasmania, came in third on 16.
The Laser Radials had a big fleet from all over Australia making the racing a state honour issue. Victoria won the day after Thomas Vincent lead from start to finish taking the first on 16 points. Queenslander William Bates held onto second throughout but was constantly challenging as shown by the just one point difference between first and second. Stuart Plenderleith from NSW was just a few points behind on 21 to take third.
The Laser 4.7s have seen changes every day in the placings with the locals breathing a sigh of relief when the three days racing was finished. All the places were taken by NSW sailors with Brodie Crossman in first, Finnian Alexander up from third into second, and Sam Booth getting back into the groove to take third.
Forty two Flying 11s made for a solid start line and the RO did a good job of keeping them under control. An occasional mention of a black flag settled them all down and Finn Gilbert and Tom Smith (NSW) showed their form with some stunning starts to take first place over all on 22 points and a countback. Owen Long and Thomas Steenson (NSW) had lead for the first two days before taking second overall with Sarah and Harry Parker (NSW) successfully grabbing third after posting DNCs for the first two races of the weekend.
Xavier Winston-Smith and Joshua Dawson (NSW) are happy with their effort after coming up the point score to take first overall in the 420s. The Queensland team of Klaus Lorenz and James Scott were just two points behind on 17, including an OCS on the final day, and James Griffin and Thomas Milburn (NSW) placed third after leading for the first two days.
Three states placed in the fleet of 29ers. Mixed conditions show mixed results but Charlie Wyatt and Lewis Brake made their trip from Queensland worthwhile as they took first overall on just 15 points. A full ten points separate them from second place getters Jim Colley and Shaun Conner (NSW).
Third place in the 29ers was taken by the Victorian team of Tess Lloyd and Eliza Solly. A fighting spirit shown after Lloyd’s injury earlier this year has given them an overall point score of 31 after being out of the top three in the early part of the regatta.
The Nautilus Marine Yachting NSW Youth Championships may be over for another year but the sailors are already gearing up for the next big one. Sail Sydney is on 13-16 December on Sydney Harbour and entries are pouring in. For more information go to sailsydney.org.au
Yachting NSW would like to thank the generous support of the volunteers, Belmont 16ft Sailing Club, and their sponsors.
Burke Marine
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OziOpti
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Sealink Magnetic Island Race Week
Entries for the fourth annual Sealink Magnetic Island Race Week have opened! 4 days of racing, 5 days of fun – that is what you can look forward to from 3-7 September at Magnetic Island. [More info]
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Ullman Sails
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VicSail Sydney
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