Zhik, CST Composites Australian Moth Championship - Burling victorious

by Tony Outteridge on 14 Jan 2013 Saturday was the final day of racing at the 013 Australian Moth Nationals and as predicted, the weather was not good (stinking hot and no wind). Luckily, the race committee’s decision to run four races on both Thursday and Friday meant that only one final race needed to be sailed. The 12 noon start was put back and put back as what little breeze there was came from the N, S, E and W until eventually a mild southerly change came in just before 3pm.

Even then, the breeze was swinging around considerably making it difficult to set a course. Just a couple of minutes before the race finally started, which was after 4pm, Pete Burling and Scott Babbage crashed into each other, with Scott breaking a wing bar and Pete receiving a nasty cut to his arm and resulting in both retiring.

This opened things up for others at the front of the fleet, with Andrew McDougall taking full advantage to chalk up a win in front of Tom Slingsby and Josh McKnight followed by Rob Gough and Joe Turner.

The Overall winner of the regatta however was Pete Burling, Olympic silver medalist from NZ, with Scott Babbage coming second and as first Australian, he was crowned National Champion. Current World Champion Josh McKnight came third just ahead of Joe Turner, followed by Olympic gold medalist, Tom Slingsby with defending National Champion, Rob Gough from Tasmania finishing sixth overall.

A presentation dinner was held at the adjoining Wangi RSL club that evening and along with the formal awards, a number of humorous awards were made, including the Golden Cleat awards.

As further entertainment the competitors were given a sneak preview the uncut video version of the 'Bangin’ the Corners Cup' which was held earlier in the week, along with dubious commentating from Randy Cunningham. The polished version of the BTC cup will be posted on YouTube soon.





Final sailing results can be found on Wangi Sailing Club Website.

This was a great regatta to be involved in either as a sailor, volunteer or as a spectator. The standard of racing and the level of skills on display were extremely high, as this star studded field just keeps raising the bar higher and higher. Many of these competitors are planning to compete in the 2013 World Championships, which are being held in Hawaii in September and I am sure they will all perform extremely well.