ASBA National Championships 2014 - Fang to the Max

by Darren Spence on 6 Jan 2014 The final day of racing at the 2014 ASBA National Titles at the Fremantle Sailing Club saw the crowning of new National Champions. Huge congratulations to the crew of Fang (Tim Reger, Rob Murdoch and Tony Johnson) who sail from the South of Perth Yacht Club in WA.

It was a close affair from day one in what ended up being a four way battle for the overall title with Crank (Brett Whitbread) and Octopussy (Rees Howell) having a chance right up until the last race. One of the pre-regatta favourites, Don't Forget Alice (Rod Beurteaux), was also in contention throughout but some inconsistent results let them down when combined with their three race wins.

The points score between Fang and Crank was all tied up on the morning of the last three races and what a cracker of a day it turned out to be.

The Fremantle Doctor was having a Sunday sleep in for the first race (race 8 of the series) with the breeze not over 8 knots and then went out for breakfast in the last stages of the race. Don't Forget Alice and Octopussy put themselves back into contention taking first and second overall on SMS while Fang and Crank scored their worst finishes with an eight and thirteenth, respectively. We also had a new line honours winner for the first time with local boat Turnham Green (Guy Skinner) leading the fleet home.

With breakfast complete, The Doctor arrived for work to provide 12-15 knots of breeze for the final two races. Then the fun began.

The second last race of the series was won by Fang with Crank second and Don't Forget Alice third. The winning margin was 1 second. This gave Fang a four point gap ahead of Crank with one race remaining.

Crank took line honours in both the last two races and did everything possible to secure their second National crown by winning the last race on SMS. As with all champions, the Fang crew, also sailed the pants off their Sports Boat to secure second overall in the race (6 seconds behind Crank) and take the title by three points. They also won Division 1 and were the first in the seven boat Viper 640 fleet. Their trophy cabinet is now well stocked.

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Octopussy sailed well in the last race to be third and finish third overall in Division 1 behind Crank. Don't Forget Alice and The Ducks Nuts (Mitch De Vries) rounded out the top five overall. The Ducks Nuts dominated Division 2 with Turnham Green the only boat to take a race off them. Johnny Drama (Lee Bowers) rounding out the top three in this Division.

ASBA would like to congratulate the winners and all that competed and had a go. There were many memorable moments of the event and luckily most were captured on film by Teri Dodds who did a great job documenting the good, the bad and sometime ugly moments on the water. Huge thanks and congratulations to the Fremantle Sailing Club and their volunteers for hosting the event. Massive effort by all those that travelled to go for a sail and especially the Crank Crew and the Tachyon Crew who ventured west from Brisbane and Sydney.

The Annual General Meeting was held during the Titles with Andrew Waugh (Zippier - Sydney) elected for his second term taking over the current President, Evan Lutey. The fleet owes a huge debt to Evan for pulling everything together to organise a very successful Titles. All the members of ASBA (the boat owners) would like to express our gratitude for all the work he has put into Sports Boat sailing in Australia. Congrats.

No event can be a success without the help and support of sponsors. ASBA is very lucky to have the ongoing support of many great companies that put up at every ASBA event.

Many thanks to our sponsors - Karver, Sail Force International, Gill, Hogs Breath Cafe and 3 Oceans Winery for their support of this event and the ASBA fleet.

All the event information can be found in the Regatta section of the ASBA web site and Facebook page. A gallery of event pictures can also be viewed by clicking here. You can also see video from the event at the ASBA You Tube Channel - subscribe because we will be adding more in the coming days (ASBA You Tube)

Full results can be found by clicking here

The next event for the fleet is the Festival of Sail in Geelong from the 23-26 January. The NSW State Titles are being held from the CYCA from the 8-9th of February (event page).