Australian Women’s Keelboat Championship

Australian Women’s Keelboat Championship - Teams fare well on day 1

by Lisa Ratcliff/AWKR media on 8 Jun 2014

Australian Women's Keelboat Regatta, RMYS - Outlaw Steb Fisher

Interstate teams fared well on unfamiliar waters on day one of the Australian Women’s Keelboat Championship. This evening’s pointscore reveals three divisional leaders spread from Victoria to Western Australia and up to the top end.

The performance based handicap EHC is the primary scoring system that will decide the eventual regatta winners. West Australian Trish Ford’s Beneteau First 44.7 Christine, borrowed from owner Paul Bunn, made its mark early to be lead EHC division 1 boat, by six points from Alison Binks’ Tigris (RMYS).

Ford and her Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club crew are first timers at the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron event and only three of the nine woman crew have experience racing at this level, making their fine scores - a second, first then third - even more noteworthy.

Australian Women's Keelboat Regatta, RMYS - Christine © Steb Fisher

Back in WA Ford is part of a club program that offers women who haven’t sailed before or who’ve had a bad experience the opportunity to twilight sail with other women. 'This weekend is a huge experience for them, they’ve never sailed on a boat this big [44 feet] and never been to a regatta like this,' she said, referring to the six rookies.

On the conditions on Victoria’s Port Phillip Ford added, 'Today flung everything at us.'

Race Officer Louise Hutton and her committee conducted two windward/leeward races and lastly a triangle course between St. Kilda and Elwood a mile or so from the shoreline. Sunshine and light westerly winds eased the record 22-boat fleet into the three-day program. By the third race crews were dealing with short rain squalls and 18 knot winds out of the south west.

'There were certainly some thrills and spills,' said Hutton, who also managed two incidents of crew falling overboard off different boats. Both women were quickly retrieved, cold and wet but unhurt.

Australian Women's Keelboat Regatta, RMYS - Cof Phoenix © Steb Fisher

In EHC division 2 Kathy MacFarlane’s Elliot 10.5 Children of Phoenix racing for the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria leads Tanya Stanford’s S80 Assailant by five points.

With six S80s on the entry list the class is scored as a standalone division and under division two results. Another out-of-towner and AWKR debutant, Jenny Simondson and her Darwin Sailing Club crew racing Outlaw beat the locals on their home turf to be leading S80 after day one.

'We are all reasonably experienced sailors and most of the crew have raced S80s in the past,' said Simondson. 'Today was much more enjoyable than we thought it was going to be; we expected it to be colder and wetter. We enjoyed the mix of conditions and trading places among the S80s - one of us would catch a wave and be ahead.'

Australian Women's Keelboat Regatta, RMYS - Outlaw © Steb Fisher

The Outlaws made sure they were dressed appropriately for Melbourne’s 16 degree day - three or four layers, beanies, gloves and sea boots. Though a long way from the balmy 34 degrees they are used to, Simondson was 'rugged up' and found the daytime temperature manageable.

Racing continues tomorrow, Sunday June 8, and concludes on Monday’s Queen’s birthday public holiday when light airs are forecast.

The Australian Women’s Keelboat Regatta began as a Melbourne event in 1991 and twenty-four years on the national competition has drawn a record fleet and high calibre line-up from Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, New South Wales and the Northern Territory. Organisers are working towards next year’s milestone, the 25th anniversary regatta.

Updated: 07-Jun-14 16:18:33

*Series Results [AMS] for Division 1 up to Race 3*
Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		AUS61	TIGRIS	A Binks	RMYS	8.0	6.0	1.0	1.0
2		S191	SALAMANDER III	M Jones	RMYS	9.0	2.0	5.0	2.0
3	1.0S	S47	MRS OVERNEWTON	H Willmer	RSAYS	10.0	1.0	4.0	5.0
4		S196	PHANTOM	D Parker	RMYS	10.0	4.0	2.0	4.0
5		S77	CHRISTINE	T Ford	RFBYC	12.0	3.0	3.0	6.0
6		S292	JUNGLE JUICE	T McCall	CYCA	17.0	8.0R	6.0	3.0
7		S2	SILK	A Browning	BSC	19.0	5.0	7.0	7.0

*Series Results [AMS] for Division 2 up to Race 3*
Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		AUS5246	HYPERACTIVE	R Coombs	SYC	3.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
2		H108	LE CASCADEUR	L Eeckman	HBYC	7.0	3.0	2.0	2.0
3		H7	OUTLAW	J Simondson	DSC	8.0	2.0	3.0	3.0
4		H1152	ASSAILANT	T Stanford	RYCV	13.0	4.0	4.0	5.0
5		R105	CHILDREN OF PHOENIX	K Macfarlane	RYCV	16.0	5.0	7.0	4.0
6		S800	TAKE ONE	C Dymond	RMYS	19.0	7.0	5.0	7.0
7		B310	WILD CHILD	M Neeson	RBYC	20.0	8.0	6.0	6.0
8		S90	RED DOG	J Lukeman	RMYS	22.0	6.0	8.0	8.0
9		H80	SATIE	L Bodey	HBYC / RHKYC	27.0	9.0	9.0	9.0

(Ties: S=Score R=Race B= Bettered. Penalties: A=ARB B=BFD C=DNC D=DNE E=ESP F=DNF G=RDG I=DPI L=Late Entrant M=DGM N=ENP O=OCS P=Protest Q=DSQ R=RET S=DNS T=TLE U=DUT V=AVG X=EXC Z=ZFP Y=SCP #=NoData [x.y]=Discarded)

Updated: 07-Jun-14 16:18:33

*Series Results [EHC] for Division 1 up to Race 3*
Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		S77	CHRISTINE	T Ford	RFBYC	6.0	3.0	1.0	2.0
2	1.0S	AUS61	TIGRIS	A Binks	RMYS	12.0	8.0	3.0	1.0
3		S196	PHANTOM	D Parker	RMYS	12.0	7.0	2.0	3.0
4	2.0S	S47	MRS OVERNEWTON	H Willmer	RSAYS	14.0	2.0	5.0	7.0
5		S191	SALAMANDER III	M Jones	RMYS	14.0	4.0	6.0	4.0
6		SM401	DRY WHITE	S Bumstead	SYC	15.0	5.0	4.0	6.0
7		S2	SILK	A Browning	BSC	17.0	1.0	8.0	8.0
8		S292	JUNGLE JUICE	T McCall	CYCA	22.0	10.0R	7.0	5.0
9		S54	MATRIX	R Badenoch	RMYS	24.0	6.0	9.0	9.0

*Series Results [EHC] for Division 2 up to Race 3*
Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		R105	CHILDREN OF PHOENIX	K Macfarlane	RYCV	6.0	1.0	4.0	1.0
2		H1152	ASSAILANT	T Stanford	RYCV	11.0	2.0	5.0	4.0
3		S8000	MOOD INDIGO	S Rosser	RMYS	12.5	4.5	2.0	6.0
4		AUS5246	HYPERACTIVE	R Coombs	SYC	15.0	9.0	3.0	3.0
5		S800	TAKE ONE	C Dymond	RMYS	16.0	7.0	1.0	8.0
6		H7	OUTLAW	J Simondson	DSC	17.5	6.0	9.5	2.0
7		B310	WILD CHILD	M Neeson	RBYC	20.0	8.0	7.0	5.0
8		S90	RED DOG	J Lukeman	RMYS	21.5	4.5	6.0	11.0
9		G1125	FLEURIEU WARRIOR	A Sellars	RGYC	23.0	3.0	11.0	9.0
10		H108	LE CASCADEUR	L Eeckman	HBYC	26.0	11.0	8.0	7.0
11		H80	SATIE	L Bodey	HBYC / RHKYC	29.5	10.0	9.5	10.0
12		R888	ESCAPE	K Knowles	RMYS	39.0	13.0R	13.0R	13.0R

Updated: 07-Jun-14 16:18:33

*Series Results [IRC FLEET] up to Race 3*
Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		S191	SALAMANDER III	M Jones	RMYS	4.0	1.0	2.0	1.0
2		S77	CHRISTINE	T Ford	RFBYC	7.0	2.0	1.0	4.0
3		SM401	DRY WHITE	S Bumstead	SYC	12.0	5.0	4.0	3.0
4		S292	JUNGLE JUICE	T McCall	CYCA	13.0	8.0R	3.0	2.0
5		S8000	MOOD INDIGO	S Rosser	RMYS	14.0	3.0	6.0	5.0
6		S47	MRS OVERNEWTON	H Willmer	RSAYS	15.0	4.0	5.0	6.0
7		S90	RED DOG	J Lukeman	RMYS	20.0	6.0	7.0	7.0