Sail Melbourne S80 Victorian Championships

by Bas Huibers on 21 Jan 2004 After three years of uninterrupted reign by Intrusion, skippered by Luke Reinehr, the 2003/4 Victorian S80 Champion is sail maker David Eickmeyer with a chartered S80 from Mornington; Kasara.

The Sail Melbourne S80 Victorian Championships were held from 16-18 January 2004 at the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria and consisted of 5 short course heats and a long distance course. Twenty-six Swarbrick 80s sailed the championship, equalling last year’s record entry at the Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron.

The first heat on Friday morning was a windward leeward course, starting in a 5 knot, shifting breeze. Picking crucial wind shifts was extremely important and Kasara had clearly done that by the end of this heat, beating the rest of the fleet by almost 5 minutes.

The second heat on Friday was a 20nm long distance course around 13 channel and club marks all over the Northern end of Port Phillip and Hobsons Bay. The breeze gradually increased from 8 to 22 knots and some of the reaches were very testing, on the crews’ ability to hold onto their spinnakers. The lead between Intrusion and Kasara changed eight times during this race, with Intrusion taking the gun after three and a half hours, only seven seconds ahead of Kasara in second place.

Saturday’s weather dished up showers, with the associated wind shifts and strength fluctuations. The first heat on Saturday (heat three of the championship) was a windward leeward course and raced in a 10 to 15 knot breeze. Intrusion and Kasara were involved in a Port/Starboard dispute, resulting in a protest by Kasara that was won, leaving Intrusion with a DSQ that later proved decisive in the overall results. The winner of heat three was last year’s number three overall; The Law Firm (John Hall).

Just before the start of heat four, the wind increased and an unfortunate collision at the start between Alice B and Take One, lead to the retirement of Alice B, the first (and only) retirement of the championship. This windward leeward course was sailed in 15-20 knot conditions, with The Law Firm crossing the finish line first, but they were found guilty of having broken the start, together with four other boats including Kasara. Intrusion won heat four.

Just before the start of heat five, another increase in wind strength up to 25 knots saw the entire fleet change to their smaller headsails. The triangular course was particularly testing on the first beat and reach, after which the breeze eased back to around 15-20 knots. A few more unfortunate collisions ensured that the protest committee on Saturday evening had their hands full with nine protests from the entire day of racing. The winner of heat five was Intrusion.

With one more race to go, the progressive leader was consistent performer Serious Yahoo II (Tim Brown), Intrusion was second, two points ahead of Kasara. The crew of Serious Yahoo II, with a result of 4,3,5,3,5 may have been quietly hoping that heat 6 would be abandoned, which would require Kasara and Intrusion to include their respective OCS and DSQ result in the total. The weather forecast for Sunday however showed this outcome to be highly unlikely, bringing the championship to a fantastic showdown between Kasara and Intrusion in the last heat.

The breeze at the start of this race was around 10-15 knots and Kasara took the challenge to Intrusion even before the start. Needing to put at least two other boats between them and Intrusion to have a chance at taking the championship, they were sailing this last heat like a match race. Kasara forced Intrusion into a position where both boats started in dirty air, amongst the bottom of the rest of the fleet. The KASARA crew were hoping that due to Intrision's long term reign in relatively clear air at the top of the S80 fleet, they would be less experienced than Kasara in a position where they needed to start from the back and battle their way through the fleet. Kasara's strategy paid off as they gained the lead on the sixth leg of the nine leg triangular course, never to give it away again. In a breeze that was dying to less than ten knots, Intrusion was battling further back, eventually finishing in 13th place.

John Hall, the President of the S80 Association of Victoria presented the Championship trophy to David Eickmeyer, skipper of Kasara. He also won the 'Most Improved Trophy' which is based on a special S80 rating that determines the boat that has improved most since previous year’s championship.

Next year’s Victorian S80 Championships will be the 20th jubilee championship for the class in this state and it is likely that the event will be run as an S80 Anniversary Challenge, opening it up for any interstate S80s wishing to compete.

The S80 class with 37 boats in Melbourne, a similar number in Perth and a few others around the rest of the country, is one of Australia’s largest keelboat fleets.

For more information look on http://www.s80.org.


Championship Results

1st Kasara, David Eickmeyer – 1,2,2,(OCS),2,1: Total 8 points

2nd Intrusion, Luke Reinehr – 2,1,(DSQ),1,1,13: Total 18 points

3rd Serious Yahoo II, Tim Brown – 4,3,5,3,5,(6): Total 20 points

Most Improved Results (S80 rating)

1st Kasara, David Eickmeyer – 1,1,1,(OCS),1,1: Total 5 points

2nd Adios, Tony Pointon – 13,3,9.5,2,(22),3: Total 30.5 points

3rd Wilderness Wear, Philip Endersbee – 11,9,2,5,6,(12): Total 33 points