Aussie J24 title to Wallace, Bruschetta still hot

by Di Pearson on 13 Jan 2006 Sean Wallace has won the Australian J24 Championship at Sandringham Yacht Club after finishing the Sail Melbourne event as the highest-placed Australian boat with 'Fly Emirates'.

The Australian Championship finished today at Sandringham Yacht Club with eight knot breeze and minimal waves for the first race, followed by slightly breezier ten knots and slight waves for the final race of the event.

Wallace, the current Western Australian champion, was third overall in a strong international fleet of 31 boats – all preparing for next week’s World Championship.

Brazillian boat Bruschetta finished the Championship first overall. As an international entry, Mauricio SantaCruz and his crew were unable to win National Championship trophy, but still managed to impress everyone with their boat speed, including Wallace.

'The Brazillian boat is really quick. The Japanese boat is quick too. The Australian guys were fortunate that conditions were right for us and if they are right next week you can’t discount us,' Wallace said.

Of his own chances next week, Wallace said consistency was the key. 'We had ordinary races and we had good races. We just need to be consistent next week and we will be up there with a chance,' Wallace said.

Australian champion crew member Simon Cunningham said the team was happy with their result despite an up and down regatta. 'We had good boat speed,' he said. 'You can’t put the boat in the right position if you don’t have good boat speed.'



More than 40 J24 crews will be closely watching Bruschetta when the Sail Melbourne J24 World Championship begins on January 16 at Sandringham Yacht Club.

Bruschetta crew member, Alex Suldanha, was pleased with the result and hoped they could replicate the performance in the Worlds.

'It will be a lot tougher now,' he said. 'Everyone will be pushing harder now -and it’s a difficult course because of the many wind shifts.

'We’ve got good speed and good boat trimming for sure. We constantly change the trimming of the boat and we have a good skipper and a fantastic crew. Mauricio is a great skipper - and he is a light guy, which is good, because that means you don’t hold much weight at the back of the boat.'

Mike Ingham’s 'Brain Cramp' (USA) finished the Championship second overall with Sean Wallace third overall.

Japanese boat Siesta did just that. Opting not to race in today’s final races, preferring to rest the crew and boat, Wataru Sakamoto’s crew still managed to finish fourth overall and is expected to be among the favourites for the World Championship.

The fleet will also include former three-time Olympian and bronze medallist in the Laser class, Michael Blackburn (AUS) aboard 'J-Spot' and two-time Australian National Champion and current NSW champ, Sean Kirkjian, who finished fourth at last year’s World Championship – the top placed Australian. America’s Suzi Taylor will be the only female skipper aboard 'Five to Six'.



Series Results [One Design Pos] up to Race 10 (Drops = 1)
Place, Ties, Sail No, Boat Name, Skipper, From, Bow No, Sers Score, Race 10, Race 9, Race 8, Race 7, Race 6, Race 5, Race 4, Race 3, Race 2, Race 1

1, , BRA37, BRUSCHETTA, Mauricio SantaCruz, Brazil, 33, 30.0, 3.0 , 4.0 , 1.0 , 1.0 , [32.0O], 1.0 , 1.0 , 2.0 , 13.0 , 4.0

2, , USA1208, BRAIN CRAMP, Mike Ingham, USA, 45, 58.0, 7.0 , 11.0 , 2.0 , [24.0] , 1.0 , 18.0 , 5.0 , 3.0 , 10.0 , 1.0

3, , AUS190, FLY EMIRATES, Sean Willis, Australia, 54, 70.0, 8.0 , 2.0 , 3.0 , 20.0 , [32.0O], 2.0 , 13.0 , 9.0 , 1.0 , 12.0

4, 2.0S, JPN5261, SIESTA, Wataru Sakamoto, Japan, 38, 71.0, 32.0C , [32.0C], 6.0 , 7.0 , 11.0 , 4.0 , 2.0 , 5.0 , 2.0 , 2.0

5, , AUS186, CODE VIOLATION, Doug McGain, Australia, 32, 71.0, 2.0 , 7.0 , 16.0 , 17.0 , [26.0] , 6.0 , 6.0 , 4.0 , 5.0 , 8.0

6, , AUS145, DEATH STAR, Sean Kirkjian, Australia, 43, 72.0, 9.0 , [22.0] , 15.0 , 12.0 , 2.0 , 14.0 , 8.0 , 1.0 , 6.0 , 5.0

7, , AUS198, SECURITY BLANKET, Hugo Ottaway, Australia, 22, 78.0, [17.0] , 9.0 , 10.0 , 4.0 , 4.0 , 8.0 , 12.0 , 13.0 , 11.0 , 7.0

8, , AUS167, J-SPOT, Michael Blackburn, Australia, 59, 79.0, 6.0 , 6.0 , 5.0 , 15.0 , 7.0 , 13.0 , 11.0 , 6.0 , [32.0F], 10.0

9, 1.0S, GBR4270, INMARSAT, Ian Southworth, Great Britain, 47, 86.0, 1.0 , 1.0 , 4.0 , 10.0 , 3.0 , 15.0 , 4.0 , 16.0 , 32.0C , [32.0C]

10, , JPN5260, GEKKO, Satashi Kume, Japan, 46, 86.0, 5.0 , 3.0 , 7.0 , 13.0 , 15.0 , 15.0Y , 10.0 , 10.0 , 8.0 , [21.0]

11, , JPN5289, CEREZO, Yasutaka Funazawa, Japan, 28, 88.0, 32.0C , [32.0C], 9.0 , 2.0 , 8.0 , 3.0 , 7.0 , 7.0 , 4.0 , 16.0

12, , AUS161, CONVICTS REVENGE, Stephen Girdis, Australia, 25, 89.0, 4.0 , 18.0 , 13.0 , 5.0 , 6.0 , 10.0 , 14.0 , 8.0 , [19.0] , 11.0

13, , AUS171, PACEMAKER, David Suda, Australia, 20, 100.0, 13.0 , 15.0 , 12.0 , 11.0 , 10.0 , 5.0 , 16.0 , [17.0] , 9.0 , 9.0

14, , AUS160, KAOTIC, Ben Lamb, Australia, 56, 105.0, 12.0 , 17.0 , 14.0 , 8.0 , 20.0 , 11.0 , 3.0 , [32.0B], 7.0 , 13.0

15, , AUS128, JPEG, Warren Sare, Australia, 53, 122.0, 24.0 , 5.0 , 11.0 , 9.0 , 19.0 , 16.0 , [25.0] , 15.0 , 3.0 , 20.0

16, , CAN4013, SINGLE MALT, Tadeusz Bartlewksi, Canada, 42, 132.0, 14.0 , 19.0 , 19.0 , 24.0Y , 5.0 , 7.0 , [26.0] , 14.0 , 15.0 , 15.0

17, , GBR4268, CRAZY GOALS.CO.UK, Jon Powell, Great Britain, 27, 141.0, 10.0 , 8.0 , 8.0 , 23.0 , 13.0 , 21.0 , 9.0 , 32.0B , [32.0F], 17.0

18, 3.0S, USA2223, FIVE TO SIX, Suzi Taylor, USA, 49, 142.0, 11.0 , 16.0 , 20.0 , 3.0 , 18.0 , 19.0 , 20.0 , 21.0 , [32.0C], 14.0

19, , AUS201, HYPERACTIVE, Philip Coombs, Australia, 23, 142.0, 18.0 , 21.0 , [25.0] , 14.0 , 12.0 , 17.0 , 17.0 , 12.0 , 12.0 , 19.0

20, , CAN4865, NOKOMIS, Scott Weakley, Canada, 55, 155.0, 32.0F , 14.0 , 22.0 , 21.0 , 9.0 , 25.0 , 15.0 , 11.0 , [32.0C], 6.0

21, , AUS185, THE PIE, Tim Lewis, Australia, 34, 157.0, 19.0 , 10.0 , 21.0 , 27.0 , 25.0 , 12.0 , 22.0 , [32.0B], 18.0 , 3.0

22, , AUS195, CRACKERJACK, Grant Willmott, Australia, 26, 174.0, 15.0 , 23.0 , 18.0 , 19.0 , 17.0 , 22.0 , 19.0 , 18.0 , [32.0F], 23.0

23, , AUS66, NO EYE DEER, Trevor Conyers, Australia, 35, 177.0, 16.0 , 12.0 , 27.0 , 25.0 , 16.0 , [27.0] , 21.0 , 19.0 , 16.0 , 25.0

24, , AUS172, INNAMINCKA, John Crawford, Australia, 57, 182.0, 20.0 , 20.0 , 17.0 , 22.0 , 21.0 , [23.0] , 18.0 , 22.0 , 20.0 , 22.0

25, , AUS108, FUN, Alyn Stevenson, Australia, 44, 202.0, 23.0 , 13.0 , 24.0 , 16.0 , 14.0 , 24.0 , 32.0F , 32.0B , [32.0F], 24.0

26, , AUS170, WHISPER, Neil Begley, Australia, 39, 210.0, 22.0 , 25.0 , 31.0 , 6.0 , 22.0 , 26.0 , 27.0 , 24.0 , [32.0C], 27.0

27, , AUS205, MR BRIDGER, Alister Morison, Australia, 29, 212.0, 21.0 , 24.0 , 28.0 , 28.0 , 27.0 , 20.0 , [28.0] , 25.0 , 21.0 , 18.0

28, , AUS127, GOOD COMPANY, Robin Townsend, Australia, 36, 213.0, 25.0 , 27.0 , 23.0 , 26.0 , 24.0 , 28.0 , 23.0 , 20.0 , 17.0 , [28.0]

29, , AUS111, SUCH IS LIFE, Roger Nicolson, Australia, 37, 221.0, 26.0 , 26.0 , 29.0 , 30.0 , 23.0 , [30.0] , 24.0 , 23.0 , 14.0 , 26.0

30, , AUS144, STOCKCAR, David Hughes, Australia, 52, 257.0, 27.0 , 28.0 , 26.0 , 31.0 , 29.0 , 31.0 , 29.0 , 26.0 , [32.0C], 30.0

31, , AUS149, TWO DOGS, Peter Moulang, Australia, 24, 266.0, 28.0 , 29.0 , 30.0 , 29.0 , 28.0 , 29.0 , 32.0F , 32.0B , [32.0C], 29.0