SB20 Nationals - Lucky Black Friday for some of the crews on Day 1

by Tracey Johnstone on 13 Jun 2014 Two teams equally lead the pointscore on day one of SB20 class Australian Championship being held off Mooloolaba this weekend.

Russel Rooney and his Melbourne team on Back of the Bus Boys are on equal points with another Melbourne team, Chris Dare and his Flirtatious team.

Rooney claims their results in the three races today; a third, a second and then a first, was all about being lucky on Black Friday as they fought to take control of the racing in the soft, twitchy winds. 'I think it was a tough day for everybody. It was very hard to pick, very up and down. Very shifty. And very close racing,' Rooney said.

Dare on the other hand said his team’s sailing was just good racing by his team. 'It was a good day for us. Pretty tough sailing, but we’re in the regatta at the start of the week on the first day. Normally light air is our weak point so we are particularly happy we did well today,' Dare said.

Racing in the SB20 National Championship was tight for the four top-placed boats.

The 12-boat fleet headed out to the Mooloolaba offshore course knowing the conditions were going to be tough and they were. The racing started just before 11am and the breeze was a sweet seven knots from the south-east, but as the morning progressed the breeze swung and gradually dissipated, so much so that Race four of the day was abandoned before it could get off the start line.

There was little distance between the top boats – Back of the bus boys, Flirtatious, Glenn Bourke’s Red and Nick Rogers’s Karabos. All four fought hard all day in the sloppy conditions right up to the end of the day. In the last race there was only two seconds difference between Back of the bus boys and Flirtatious as they fought gybe for gybe over the last 100 metres conditions.

Mainsheet hand on the Back of the bus boys, Rooney was delighted by his team’s results as they moved their way through the ranks from to reach first place in the third and final race of the day. 'We like to do it in that order rather than the other way round,' a relaxed Rooney said.

For a new team they worked well together. Rooney with bowman Wayne Bates and helmsman Brent Frankcombe have only been together a couple of months.

'We kept out of trouble, kept our nose clean and didn’t get in a position that would have hurt us,' he added.

Dare has some heavy ammunition on board his boat. He has sailing with him Kieran Searle, a sail maker from Sydney, and Oliver Tweddel, a member of the Australian Sailing Squad and currently vying for Olympic selection in the Finn class.

Dare claims having these young, talented crew on board makes his life easy. 'You surround yourself with good people and then you can get on with your job. I have sailed with the boys before and we are great mates,' Dare said.

In third overall is Laser class triple World Champion Glenn Bourke and his Red Team. Trailing Bourke is the Tasmanian Team on Karabos led by Nick Rogers.

Racing continues tomorrow from about 10.45am. The forecast is for a northerly of five to eight knots.

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