Bravo Zulu Bravo Cadets Royal Geelong Yacht Club

by Bob Appleton. OAM on 9 Jan 2006 Members of the Royal Geelong Yacht Club's cadet division, consisting of ten boats, 20 skippers and crew, support staff of family and friends journeyed to Sydney Harbour, and in particular to beautiful Rose Bay and the host club Woollahra Sailing Club, for the 44th National Cadet Championships. This is the first time that the championships have been held in NSW and the Victorian team, captained by Geelong's Jock Sinclair won the 'Tillet' trophy against Australia's best.

Individually, the most successful Geelong boat was 'Longreach' with Jock Sinclair on the helm and crewmember Matthew Fitzpatrick who claimed second place overall! They had a first, second, third, 7th, 9th, 10th and 11th over the eight races sailed and were well in the lead during one of the later races that was eventually abandoned when the wind dropped right out.

The Tom Kelly, Kane Skelton duo on board 'Sure Thing' had mixed successes finishing seventh overall with a first, second, third, 16th and a couple of 21sts in the massive field of eighty-six entries.

Fergus Forbes and Jessica Case in 'Fleet Invader' finished 24th overall with a best result of tenth and Aaron Dixon, Will Kelly in 'Swiftsure' finished 28th.

Other RGYC club members taking part learned a lot about competition racing, which will stand them in good stead for the future. They were Blake Robertson/Ryan King and 'Anaconda' finishing 38th, Rhys Short/Luke Hockey, 'Atomic' 47th, Callum Wilkinson/Clare Hockey 'Skeeta', 48th. Cara Swan/Nikola Dixon 'Hyper Hyper' were 66th, Ben Stabb/Isaac Hockey, 'Gotcha' were 74th and Addy Dunkley-Smith/Kate Lyons in 'Anaconda II' finished in 83rd spot.

Nobody was disgraced; all enjoyed the experience and each will return to club racing with a lot of big fleet racing know-how. Well done to all involved (and thanks to the mums and dads!) For the record, 'Bravo Zulu' is the phonetic term for the flags in the signal, 'Congratulations' or 'well done' and that certainly fits all these young sailors.