Tasar Australian Championships Final Day - Ridgways clean up
by Chris Payne on 3 Jan 2014
Paul & Bronwyn Ridgway win the series Russell Bates
On the Tasar Australian Championships final day, with only one race to sail to finish the regatta and no wind on the course, the PRO, Peter Southwell, kept the fleet on shore to wait. By 12, the wind came in and the AP was dropped to send the boats out on the water for a nice race in 15 knot SSW.
The Paul and Bronwyn Ridgway (VIC) had a four point lead over Rob and Nicole Douglass (NSW) and six points ahead of Rick Longbottom/ Darryl Bentley (Navy Sailing), all three boats former world champions. This formed the tactics for the race with the second two boats needing to win, and the Ridgways needing to stay close to limit any loses. All three started at the pin and went left. The Ridgways sailed to the wing mark by mistake, while the Douglass’s took the lead. The Ridgways got back to eighth by the first mark with Longbottom/Bentley. By the bottom mark it was Douglass’s followed by Heather Macfarlane/Chris Payne , Longbottom/Bentley and the Ridgways. The minor placings swapped and changed a few times, but the Douglass’s stayed in the lead to beat the Ridgways over the line and Longbottom/Bentley fourth. This gave the Ridgways a well deserved win ahead of the Douglass’s and Longbottom/Bentley in third overall.
Attention of the class now turns towards January 2015 when the World Championships are to be sailed in Busselton, Western Australia where a large contingent of overseas boats are expected.
A number of interviews of the competitors has been conducted by Stuart Templeton of Oogy Wawa Productions and these can be found on the link
here.
http://www.bys.asn.au/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=68" target="_blank">Full Results
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