SB20 Australian Championship - It was down to last race for a result

by Tracey Johnstone on 15 Jun 2014 SB20 Australian Championship 2014 - Everything was hanging on the last race of the last day of the SB20 Australian Championship being conducted by Mooloolaba Yacht Club as part of Sail Mooloolaba 2014.

Chris Dare’s Flirtatious was the series leader on eight points going into today’s races. He just had to ensure he and his Melbourne team sailed another top day to secure that lead. In second place was Russell Rooney’s Back of the Bus Boys, skippered by Brent Frankcombe. They were on 10 points and having a brilliant regatta for a team that had only been together for three months.

Back in third overall was Robert Jeffreys Red, skippered by Glenn Bourke, on 17 points with the Tasmanian Karabos team, skippered by Nick Rogers, in fourth on 18 points.

By the end of the four-race day Flirtatious was declared the new Australian Champion with 16 points, with Back of the Bus Boys in second overall with 18 points and Red in third overall with 19 points.

This morning the racing was moved forward to 10am as the sun returned and the south-westerly filled in early with gusts of between 12 and 15 knots. The first three races of the day saw Flirtatious do a nice job to take out a first, a third and a fourth. The Red team showed great form in the stronger breeze to take out a second and two firsts. The Back of the Bus Boys were travelling a little harder with a third, a sixth and a second.

Then the PRO, Warren Myles, called for the final race of the day.

Just a few points separated each of the top three teams and with the breeze shifting and the pressure changing up and down, it was in the hands of the tacticians to pick the right corner of the course to achieve a crucial advantage. But what the top three didn’t plan on was one of the mid-fleet boats choosing the final race to step up a notch and into first place.

The Tasmanian team on WYSIWYG VIII, skippered by Stephen Fries, were on fire in the final race after a dramatic race start. 'We were OCS with 10 seconds to go. We knew it and we were lucky to have a bit of a gap to windward of us, so the minute the gun went and ducked back and just missed the start boat.

'We then just tacked out again. We were only average up the first work, running about mid-fleet. Held there on the downwind. We picked the left hand gate to go round. We took two little digs out and then lifted all the way to the mark,' a chuffed Fries said.

'Each day we were leading one of the races, but never finished off. We finally finished off. We know the trick now. Not to the lead at the beginning, but lead at the end,' Fries added.

Red’s skipper Bourke was very disappointed as his well-laid plans came undone. It was the last leg of the last race that made all the difference. The boat was going well and the crew were sailing smarter. 'We had all of them tucked away where we needed them and a huge shift came out of the right hand side and a guy got through us and that changed the order of the scoring.

'We had a good day to get ourselves into it. We didn’t know what the score was as we were just trying to sail it as well as we could. We have just lost it by a point,' a despondent Bourke said.

Sporting a big smile, Back of the Bus Boys skipper Frankcombe was very pleased with their second overall even after a day of mixed results.

'We were just worried about getting round the track today. It was very shifty and we got stuck on the wrong side of a few shifts. The shifts were massive and everywhere. The lead pack were in the position where they could respond and it was hard to get back from where we positioned.

'We picked up one (shift) in the last race and got back in the game,' Frankcombe said.

The last word on the tough three-day regatta went to the tired skipper of the champion crew, Chris Dare. 'It was a long day. It was a tough day tactically.

'It was shifty out there today; very, very shifty. It was the variances in where the breeze was coming from that was the most difficult part. It was bit like sailing on the Derwent, funnily enough.

'We had a good first race and then we kind of didn’t have a great race in the second one. We were coming second and then dropped back to fourth through a mistake, probably. It was our first major wrong decision we made all weekend. Then, again, we were sailing against the fleet a bit and try to manage the damage and try to get the result you want. It was hard as it was pretty close. We had Glenn in one corner and the boys on Back of the Bus in the other corner, so which corner do you go to?

'Olly and Kieran did a great job of managing all that,' Dare said.

SB20 Australian Titles 2014

Hosted By Sail Mooloolaba

Provisional Results

Updated:  15/06/2014  2:47:39 PM

Series Results [OD] up to Race 9 (Drops = 1)

Place	Ties	Bow No	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 9	Race 8	Race 7	Race 6	Race 5	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		39	3658	FLIRTATIOUS	Chris Dare	SYC/SSCBC	16.0	4.0	[4.0]	3.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	3.0	1.0
2		35	3382	BACK OF THE BUS BOYS	Brent Frankcombe	SYC	18.0	3.0	2.0	[6.0]	3.0	2.0	2.0	1.0	2.0	3.0
3		43	3030	RED	Glenn Bourke	SYC	19.0	2.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	4.0	4.0	3.0	[4.0]	2.0
4		42	3036	KARABOS	Nick Rogers	RYCT&DSS	30.0	5.0	3.0	4.0	[9.0]	6.0	3.0	4.0	1.0	4.0
5		46	3389	WYSIWYG VIII	Stephen Fries	RTYC	40.0	1.0	6.0	5.0	7.0	3.0	[10.0]	5.0	7.0	6.0
6		41	3383	HYPERTRONICS	Stephen Catchpool	DSS	46.0	6.0	5.0	7.0	6.0	5.0	5.0	7.0	[8.0]	5.0
7		37	3108	BLUE TAC	Trevor Martin	MYC	50.0	7.0	8.0	2.0	4.0	8.0	[11.0]	6.0	6.0	9.0
8		36	3356	BLACK RAT	Troy Forrest	MYC	59.0	8.0	9.0	9.0	5.0	7.0	7.0	9.0	5.0	[10.0]
9		45	3618	WAGOP	Mike McLean	NQCYC	69.0	9.0	7.0	[13.0O]	10.0	10.0	9.0	8.0	9.0	7.0
10		38	3610	DART VADER	Lachlan McLean	NYC	74.0	10.0	10.0	8.0	8.0	9.0	6.0	11.0	12.0	[12.0]
11		44	3355	TYPHOON	Gary Bradshaw	MBYC	79.0	[13.0O]	11.0	10.0	11.0	11.0	8.0	10.0	10.0	8.0
12		40	3364	GIDDYUP	Paul Laurence	SYC	92.0	11.0	12.0	11.0	12.0	12.0	12.0	[12.0]	11.0	11.0

(Ties: S=Score R=Race B= Bettered. Penalties: A=ARB B=BFD C=DNC D=DNE E=ESP F=DNF G=RDG I=DPI L=Late Entrant M=DGM N=ENP O=OCS P=Protest Q=DSQ R=RET S=DNS T=TLE U=DUT V=AVG X=EXC Z=ZFP Y=SCP #=NoData [x.y]=Discarded)

SB20 Australian Titles 2014

Hosted By Sail Mooloolaba

Provisional Results

Updated:  15/06/2014  3:30:34 PM

Series Results [PHS] for Division 1 up to Race 9 (Drops = 1)

Place	Ties	Bow No	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 9	Race 8	Race 7	Race 6	Race 5	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		37	3108	BLUE TAC	Trevor Martin	MYC	35.0	6.0	[12.0]	2.0	1.0	5.0	8.0	1.0	2.0	10.0
2		36	3356	BLACK RAT	Troy Forrest	MYC	39.0	2.0	5.0	11.0	2.0	4.0	4.0	10.0	1.0	[12.0]
3		38	3610	DART VADER	Lachlan McLean	NYC	41.0	4.0	6.0	9.0	4.0	8.0	1.0	3.0	6.0	[11.0]
4		35	3382	BACK OF THE BUS BOYS	Brent Frankcombe	SYC	42.5	5.0	2.0	10.0	5.5	6.0	[11.0]	2.0	9.0	3.0
5		41	3383	HYPERTRONICS	Stephen Catchpool	DSS	43.5	7.0	1.0	7.0	8.0	2.0	5.5	9.0	[12.0]	4.0
6	1.0S	46	3389	WYSIWYG VIII	Stephen Fries	RTYC	44.0	1.0	8.0	5.0	9.0	1.0	7.0	5.0	8.0	[9.0]
7		40	3364	GIDDYUP	Paul Laurence	SYC	44.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	12.0	10.0	2.0	[12.0]	5.0	6.0
8		43	3030	RED	Glenn Bourke	SYC	45.5	10.0	11.0	1.0	3.0	3.0	[12.0]	6.0	10.5	1.0
9		42	3036	KARABOS	Nick Rogers	RYCT&DSS	52.0	8.0	4.0	4.0	10.0	9.0	9.0	[11.0]	3.0	5.0
10		39	3658	FLIRTATIOUS	Chris Dare	SYC/SSCBC	54.5	9.0	9.0	8.0	5.5	7.0	10.0	4.0	[10.5]	2.0
11		44	3355	TYPHOON	Gary Bradshaw	MBYC	58.0	[13.0O]	7.0	6.0	11.0	12.0	3.0	7.0	4.0	8.0
12		45	3618	WAGOP	Mike McLean	NQCYC	66.5	11.0	10.0	[13.0O]	7.0	11.0	5.5	8.0	7.0	7.0

(Ties: S=Score R=Race B= Bettered. Penalties: A=ARB B=BFD C=DNC D=DNE E=ESP F=DNF G=RDG I=DPI L=Late Entrant M=DGM N=ENP O=OCS P=Protest Q=DSQ R=RET S=DNS T=TLE U=DUT V=AVG X=EXC Z=ZFP Y=SCP #=NoData [x.y]=Discarded)

For full results, go event website.