A Summer of One Design Racing - North Sails Australia

by North Sails on 7 Jan 2013 The Australian summer sailing season is now in full blast with a multitude of one-design regattas being held around the country.

Last week on the Derwant River we saw the 420 sailors battle it out at the national titles in some very fresh conditions.

Lachlan Gilmour and crew Thomas Blaauw from WA sailed extremely well in the challenging conditions to take out the title with some very consistent results and geared up with a full inventory of the latest 420 North Sails Japanese Designs that North Sails Australia stock.

After a week of torturous sailing in, at times, gale force winds on, Gilmour and Blaauw managed to hold off late challengers from other crews from WA, NSW and Tasmania.

On the final day they managed to complete the 12 race series with three final races before the wind kicked in at over 35 knots around midday, and Gilmour and Blaauw’s score of 1-5-2 gave them the title with a net of 22 points.

This week the 420 Youth National Titles are on and many of the competitors will be geared up with the new J12 North Sails Jib which has been designed to suit the new rule change which allow battens to be fitted to the sail. This allows us to maximise the area of the jib with the battens supporting the leech of the sail. We have a number of J12 Jibs still in stock ready to go.

Sandy Bay Sailing Club also on the Derwant River have commenced the Optimist National Titles with the Australian Teams Racing championship round robin being held yesterday.

Teams of four from all over the country competed through the heats with hundreds of spectators crowding on the beach and yacht club balcony to watch the close racing.

The top Victorian team of Steven Case, James Grogan, Hugo Llewelyn and Nick Sharman progressed through to the three race final against the top Queensland team of Eva Lorenz , Tom Cunich, Max Quirk and Camron Gise.

In what was a spectacular display of tight teams racings both teams had one win each after the first two races which where both undecided right up until the end.

In the final race it was Victoria that came out on top and displayed great boat positioning and control to get into a winning combination and take out the Australian Optimist Teams Racing Title.

James Grogan who has been training hard and working with Dave O’Connor from North Sails Australia commented

' The Queensland team sailed really well and it was certainly close. but we all knew our jobs and everyone worked really well as a team to come out on top. I think we are all pretty pumped'

Dave O’Connor from North Sails Australia was asked to commentate and call the final heat of the teams racing for the spectators and is at the regatta to provide both on and off the water support for all the North Sails Kids commented;

' Sandy Bay Sailing Club have done a great job in setting up and hosting the regatta. The location is great and the facilities are perfect. The sailors had a very fun day today with the teams racing and I’m looking forward to seeing them all start racing tomorrow'

Through out the year David has been working with and coaching a number of top Optimist sailors from around the country who are all competing for a top five placing to make the Worlds Team that will compete at the Lake Garda Optimist Worlds Championships in Italy later this year.

In other One Design news. The Farr 40’s have been racing hard in the Tasmanian championships where the local team onboard Voodoo Chile skippered by Lloyd Clark sailed extremely well to be leading the regatta after the first day of racing. The world champion winning crew on board Transfusion had plenty of work to do to catch up but kept their heads together and pulled it off winning on a count back with Voodoo Chile finishing in second place and Martin Hill’s Estate Master in third all powered by a combination of 3DL and 3Di North Sails.

In Perth the Etchells Nationals are about to get underway and both Richie Allanson and Noel Drennan from North Sails Australia are competing in the regatta and servicing the fleet.

Looking forward the 18ft skiffs will be starting the first race of their Australian Championships on Sunday and the top teams of Channel Seven, Thurlow Fisher Lawyers and Appliances Online will be racing hard to get an early lead in the series.

The Melges 24 Nationals are going to be held in Geelong Vic later this month which has also been confirmed as the location for the 2014 Melges 24 World Championships.

A number of teams have been training hard for this regatta including Kevin Nixon and his team onboard Accru, Warwick Rooklyns Bandit and Heath Townsend on Kaito with his new team of Julian Plante, Dave O’Connor, Matt Stenta and Mark Edmonds.

Snapping close at the heals of these very experienced teams are Damian Huon’s team on board Huey 2 and David Bull’s team on board Jester. They have all geared them selves up with the latest North Sails winning models and have done a lot of fine tuning of their rig and sail set ups in preparation for the regatta

For more info on our latest one design developments or to order your next set of latest North Sails One Design sails contact the team at North Sails Australia Australian One Design Sailing