Australian Sports Boat Association QLD Titles - What a hot fleet!
by Bronwen Ince on 3 Oct 2013
Stay Tuned - Australian Sports Boat Association QLD Titles 2013 Teri Dodds
http://www.teridodds.com
The 2013 Australian Sports Boat Association (ASBA) QLD Titles are being held this weekend 5th to 6th October, 2013 at Southport Yacht Club's Hollywell Sailing Squadron, off the beaches of the world famous Gold Coast. Twenty-seven crews from all around the country are making their way to the Southport Yacht Club in what is a record ASBA Sports Boat fleet.
And what a hot fleet it is! Leading the charge is the 2013 National and NSW Champion, Zippier (Andrew Waugh) from Sydney. Zippier has not visited QLD since competing at the National Titles in 2011 and are one of only two boats to have competed in all six ASBA National Titles. This will be their first QLD Title.
The defending QLD champion and current Winter National Champion, Raptor (Mark Buchbach), will also be out to make it two in a row.
Two time QLD Champion, Peow Peow (Tim Robba), will be one of nine Shaw design 650's facing the starters gun. The Shaw 650 contingent will essentially be a fleet within the fleet and will have a separate set of results generated. This is the largest fleet ever assembled of the New Zealand designed 6.5m boat with every boat on the Australian mainland eastern seaboard attending.
One of the biggest challengers in both the overall and Shaw 650 fleet will come from West Australia's Rees Howell (Money Pussy) sailing a chartered boat and using his own sails. Rees and his crew brought their own boat to the 2013 National Titles in Melbourne in March from Perth and finished second overall, winning Division Two.
The fleet also includes the winner of the 2013 Festival of Sails in Geelong, Monkey Business (Cam Rae). The most travelled Sports Boat in the country is doing it again, making the road trip up from Geelong for the weekend.
Winner of the Sports Boat Division at the 2013 Airlie Beach Race Week, Viper QLD (Ben Leigh-Smith), will be hoping this form and local knowledge will help them achieve two event wins in a row.
The 2012 (Kaito) and 2011 (Crank) National Champions will be doing their best to keep the fleet honest and hoping for some great sailing breeze.
Other locals to keep an eye on will be Stay Tuned (Graham Sherring) and Guilty Pleasures V (Noel Leigh-Smith).
To compliment the racing, each boat will be fitted with a tracker for the weekend and the racing can be followed live on the ASBA web site ASBA Website or via the TackTracker App on your iproduct. So, no matter where you are in the country or around the world, you can follow the fleet live on the couch or watch a replay at any time.
Apart from the prestige of taking out this Fifth QLD Title, crews are also fighting for over $3,000 worth of Gill Clothing, threenOceans Wine and Hogs Breath Cafe products.
The Titles kick off a huge 2013-14 sailing season for the Sports Boat around the country with further state titles in Victoria, New South Wales and West Aust with the big one, 2014 National Titles, set down for Fremantle, WA in January 2014.
It's time to get off the couch, get organised and come for a Sail!
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