Blackwood Challenge - Crews battle to win points

by Yachting WA on 24 Apr 2013 The annual Blackwood Challenge was held over the weekend of the 6th and 7th April when the Augusta Yacht Club played host to visiting clubs. Visitors and sailors enjoyed the racing and socialising at one of Australia's most picturesque yacht clubs on the banks of the Blackwood River at Augusta.

Although the regatta this year has been held later in the sailing season in the hopes of quieter winds, Augusta turned on an afternoon of wind and waves for the first day. The second race of the day saw some very strong winds and major gusts that were responsible for some gear failures, capsizes and anxious moments as crews battled to win points.

The young sailors from Dunsborough Bay Yacht Club competing for the Junior Challenge were amazing to watch, as they sailed their tiny Minnows in conditions which had experienced sailors in much bigger boats wondering when an extra strong gust was going to end their race. When the Minnows did flip, they were quickly righted and off again. These races were eagerly fought by a fleet of Minnow, Splash and Mirror dinghies from DBYC and August Yacht Club.

One very new 11year old sailor, Colby Taylor, stuck at his task and managed to get round the course on the second day, although he had barely stepped into a Minnow till this weekend.

Six GP14s, a Mirror dinghy and AYC with their their usual mixed fleet of monohulls and multihulls all competed for the Senior Challenge.

The Teams' Race for the Flying Fish Cup was simultaneously run between three GP14s from DBYC and three from Mounts Bay Sailing Club (Team Big Smoke) producing strong competition and see-sawing place getters with rivalry fierce and dinkum. La Rousse (MBSC) and Cocktail Cherry (MBSC) as always provided strong opposition with the spinnaker handling of La Rousse giving them the edge.

Ragged Edge (DBYC) was up there in the rankings even though they did not fly their spinnaker over the two days. Aeolus ( DBYC) had moments of dizzy speed and challenging promise but came to grief fairly frequently with the sand and mud banks in the unfamiliar river, or gusting winds proving too diverse at the crucial moment.

Three junior sailors from DBYC sailed in GP14 Grey Power with Morgan Flower at the helm; Sebastian Roocke on the jib sheet and additional ballast, and Mary Pethick on the trapeze and jib pole - performed well in an unfamiliar boat and in strong gusty conditions, exhibiting lessons well learned from their Flying Ant training. They stormed round the course in all races with broad grins on their faces and singing at the tops of their voices - a tremendous advert for the joys of sailing and camaraderie at DBYC.

Richard Rowell helming his Mirror Barnacle Blues with daughter Matilda in races one and two and then daughter Rosie on Sunday in races three and four got some invaluable practice for the forthcoming National and World Mirror Championships at Loch Derg, Ireland in July. He as usual, was always up there in the contest and performed extremely well on yardstick against the faster and bigger GPs.

The Flying Fish Teams' Cup was won by Mounts Bay Sailing Club with Dunsborough Bay Yacht Club close runner-ups.

Junior Blackwood Challenge Results:

1st	Spinnow	Dean Cowan	DBYC
2nd	Smartie Pants	Caelin Winchcombe	DBYC
3rd	Splash	Chad Cowan	DBYC

 GP14s  Senior Blackwood Results:

1st	La Rousse	Bruce Quail & Steve Heywood	MBSC
2nd	Ragged Edge	Peter & Rick Wagner	DBYC
3rd	Cocktail Cherry	Louis Proksch & Ian Greenham	MBSC