Afternoon’s racing favours 'Siesta'

by Di Pearson on 11 Jan 2006 Japanese boat 'Siesta' continues its apparent stranglehold on the J24 Australian National Championship at Sail Melbourne in a lead-up to the World Championship next week.

Skippered by Wataru Sakamoto, 'Siesta' finished with a fourth and 11th place in today’s racing on Port Phillip to cement its first place overall in a strong fleet of 31 boats.

US boat 'Brain Cramp', with accomplished sailor Mike Ingham at the helm, made its charge in the second race of the day to finish first. But Ingham wasn’t happy with the 18th place they started the day with after being surprised by a light ten knot breeze with slight waves.

'Every day the wind has built and built and we set up (the boat) for heavy wind. We didn’t do too good in that race. It was a silly mistake,' he said.

'We made changes for the second race. We eased up our shroud tensions – it makes a huge difference.'

While 'Siesta' is on target for the National Championship, there is some uncertainty whether it will compete in the final day of racing.

International crews are ineligible to win the event and there is talk that the crew of 'Siesta' may decide to rest in preparation for the all-important World Championship which begins at Sandringham Yacht Club on January 15, only one day after the Nationals finish.

Currently, 'Siesta' leads from 'Brain Cramp' and 'Bruschetta' – no change from yesterday. However, the Australian Championship is presently in the hands of holding National champion, Sean Kirkjian and crew on 'Death Star', currently fifth overall. The Championship finishes this Friday.

Overall leaders after 6 races, 31 entries:
1 JPN5261 Wataru Sakamoto Japan 38 15.0 [11.0] 4.0 2.0 5.0 2.0 2.0
2 USA1208 Mike Ingham USA 45 20.0 1.0 [18.0] 5.0 3.0 10.0 1.0
3 BRA37 Mauricio SantaCruz Brazil 33 21.0 [32.0O] 1.0 1.0 2.0 13.0 4.0
4 AUS145 Sean Kirkjian Australia 43 22.0 2.0 [14.0] 8.0 1.0 6.0 5.0
5 JPN5289 Yasutaka Funazawa Japan 28 29.0 8.0 3.0 7.0 7.0 4.0 [16.0]
6 AUS186 Doug McGain Australia 32 29.0 [26.0] 6.0 6.0 4.0 5.0 8.0
GBR:
16 GBR4270 Ian Southworth GBR 47 70.0 3.0 15.0 4.0 16.0 32.0C [32.0C]
20 9.0S GBR4268 Jon Powell GBR 27 92.0 13.0 21.0 9.0 32.0B [32.0F] 17.0

Event website: http://sailmelbourne.com.au