Paper Tiger Nationals - Anderson wins record seventh title
by Alex Craig on 7 Jan 2014
Australian Champion Bryan Anderson Alex Craig
Victoria’s Bryan Anderson has secured his seventh Paper Tiger Catamaran Australian Championship. The event, hosted by Portarlington Sailing Club on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula, attracted a competitive fleet of 27 boats, with entrants from Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and South Australia.
Mark Wiggins from Victoria had a great start to the series, taking two race wins on the first day and another win on the second day to establish an early lead with Anderson a close second. Races 5 and 6 saw Anderson take two wins to then clinch the overall lead going into the final day.
After several postponements while waiting for the wind to settle in, the final two races got underway in a 15-20 knot southerly and flat water, which made for fast and exiting Paper Tiger racing. Anderson won the final race to clinch the series with Wiggins a close second. Defending Champion, Tasmania’s Bruce Rose finished third overall.
This year’s event saw the introduction of coloured rash tops for division leaders, a la Tour de France. These were presented to the A (Overall), B and C grade leaders at the pre-race briefing each day to be worn during racing and added an extra element of interest to the competition. As the overall winner, Anderson won the yellow jersey, with Sean Keady and Steve Price taking out the blue and orange jerseys for B and C grade respectively.
The women’s division was won by Jani Marcovitch from NSW with Sarah Ashley-Jones of Victoria runner up.
Next year’s event is to be held at Lauderdale Yacht Club in Tasmania. With a growing fleet of 20 boats already sailing at the club, the 2015 Nationals are likely to see a record fleet of 45+ boats. With the great sailing and hospitality in Tassie it will be an event not to be missed!
The event will also form the selection for the Paper Tiger Internationals to be held in Australia over Easter 2015.
The class is also seeing resurgence around Port Phillip Bay with growing fleets sailing at McCrae, Mt Martha and Somers Yacht Clubs. Full Results
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