Master upstaged by his apprentice in the Victorian Moth State titles

by Leigh Dunstan on 27 Apr 2013 The final round of the KA Sail Victorian Moth Grand Prix kicked off with a bang on the 20th and 21st April. Doubling as the 2012/13 Victorian Moth State Championships, Black Rock Yacht Club hosted the event as part of the annual Black Rock Skiff Regatta.

The Victorian fleet welcomed Will Logan from Tasmania and Rob Gough who spent the first day in a power boat after still recovering from a foiling gybe gone wrong weeks before where he smash his hand on the boom. It’s exciting to see that there has been significant growth in the local fleet with a number of new faces this time round, making racing much closer.

Day one saw 15-20knots from the southeast. This didn’t equate to the large sea state that one could become accustomed too when they sail at Black Rock, but non the less it did see quite a bit of carnage and retirements across the fleet.

Kohie Kajimoto handled the conditions amazingly to take the lead after day one, finishing with a second and two first places. Kohie has an impressive story, as someone who could barely finish a race on some days of last years Grand Prix Series. Kohie trains exceptionally hard with Mach2 designer and Black Rock local Andrew McDougall. Amac as Andrew is known has nurtured Kohie and perhaps passed on one too many secrets with Kohie showing he can now beat him at his own game. Amac finished day one in second and Sam England, who has sailed very consistently throughout the 2012/13 season finished in third.

Day two saw an offshore northerly and flat water. Race one started in marginal foiling conditions and the day finished with race three sailed in 15-20knots. The racing was extremely tight throughout the day, however Kohie showed that Saturdays performance was not a fluke, winning the final race and securing the series. Andrew McDougall clinched second from Sam England in third. Sam England also secured the Women’s Trophy and Gus Eckberg took home the Junior Trophy.

As the final round of the Grand Prix Series it was fantastic to see Sam England win overall from Andrew McDougall in second and Kohie Kajimoto in third.

On behalf of all the Victorian Moth sailors we would like to thank KA Sail, Magic Marine, Selden Deck Hardware and Cherri Owen-Smith Photography for all of their support across the 2012/13 season and we look forward to what next year will bring……

For full results of the State Championships here

For full result of the KA Sail Grand Prix Series here