2015 Audi Showdown Regatta underlines youth sailing skills

by Peter Campbell on 1 Nov 2015 At least 30 of the junior and youth sailors who have contested the Audi Showdown regatta on the River Derwent over the weekend will represent their State at major national championships and international regattas over the next two months.

After two days of intensive racing, they will be as prepared as they can be for big fleet regattas, the prime objective of the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania in introducing the Showdown.

Final coaching by Tasmanian high performance coach Richard Scarr will hone their skills before they contest Sail Sydney and Sail Melbourne, followed national championships in Lasers, Cadets, 420s, Sabots and other off-the-beach classes..

On a day when Hobart’s temperature reached 26 degrees, bringing with it a light and variable winds that switched from NE to the SE midway late morning.

In total 170 junior, youth and adult sailors from clubs around the State competed in the two-day regatta, with the junior and youth classes notable for the large number of youngsters who have moved up a class this season.

Outstanding performances over the weekend included Sam King’s win in the highly competitive Laser Radial class, winning five of the eight races, and Max Gluskie’s seven wins and a third in the Laser 4.7 class.

The small Laser standard rig fleet saw Zac Pullen wins four races, Tom Cooper and Jock Calvert two wins each.

In the 16-boat International Cadet class more than half the skippers in the fleet were having their first-season at the helm with brothers Charles and William Zeeman winning a hard-fought regatta in which their sisters, Lily and Annabelle, placed fourth overall.

Second place went to William Cooper and his world champion crew, Hugo Allison who won six of the eight races, but had a DNF (did not finish) and an OCS (on course side disqualification). With only one drop race they had to carry 17 penalty points.

Third place went to another new helmsperson, 12-year-old Chloe Abel, sister of Cadet world champions skipper Sam Abel, and her crew Grace Hooper.

Most of the new Cadet sailors have moved up from Optimists, leaving the way open for new winners in this class. Evan Galbraith won the Optimist division, scoring three wins, three seconds and a third, with a 14th his other place in Bombora.

Galbraith finished with a net 12 points, second place going to Rupert Hamilton, sailing R-Sup on 18 points and Alice Buchanan on 29 points, including two wins. In fourth place was her young brother Finn who won the last race to finish on 41 points.

Another first-up winner was Archie Sullivan who scored in race seven.

The Gailbraith family scored a winning double, with Evan’s elder sister Jasmine and Chloe Fisher winning the combined 420/29er class in Barefoot Bandits with four wins, two seconds, a third and a fourth to finish with 11 points.

Brothers Hugo and Silas Hamilton finished second overall on 13 points sailing Amnesia, also a 29er while third on 21 points was the 420 Ora, helmed by Cadet world champion Sam Abel with Samantha Bailey as crew.

In the SB20 one-design sports boats, Nick Rogers showed no ill effects of his knock on the head sailing Karabos on Saturday, finishing the regatta with two firsts and a second place to finish with a net seven points, 14 points clear of his rival Matthew Pilkington, sailing Balios, on 21 points.

Balios won the opening race today but was unplaced in the next two, finishing two points clears of three boats that finished equal third on 23 points: two Unlimited (Greg Prescott), Hypertronics (Stephen Catchpool) and Export Roo (Michael Cooper).

Matt Bugg had a comfortable overall win in the International 2.4mR classs, despite being being beaten by his faher Ron in race six yesterday. Matt scored a net seven points, winning the other seven races in an impressive lead-up to SailMelbourne, the Para World and then the 2.4mR worlds here in Hobart in January.

Overall, Matt Bugg finished with seven points, Lisa Blackwood second on 15 points and Ron Bugg third on 18 points.

While only four Sharpies made the starting line for the Audi Showdown, class enthusiasts are confident at least a dozen Tasmanian boats be in the fleet of 35 expected for the nationals in Hobart in January.

Drew Latham dominated the results at the helm of One Hump or Two winning every race to finish on seven points while Moth sailor Julian Salter sailed Gun Smoke into second place overall on 18 points.

Bruce Rose, sailing The Apprentice won every race in the small Paper Tiger fleet while Darren Cook won the open catamarans, also with seven straight wins.