Cuneo and Warlow win AUS 505 Nationals

by Jordan Spencer on 8 Apr 2008
The final day of racing for the Musto Performance, EngwirdaMarine 505 National Championships for 2008 brought more of the same from heats 7 and 8; lighter winds and marginal trapezing conditions. With the overall winner decided and boats to pack, the course was fairly short.

Hamish Jarrett and Chris Pearson had a great start as did Higgins and Marsh and Carter Jackson and Darren Nicholson. They were the first few boats to round the top mark, but there was a very large pack, containing nearly all the fleet right on their tails. With the light winds, the boats ran square to the mark, rather than wire running.

The light conditions also saw the Sweaty Betty boys start to fly again. These lads have the lightest crew weight in the fleet and sail well, so pretty quickly they moved toward the front. Quirk and Reffold were also moving forward with great speed. By the last triangle it was Swetty Betty from Higgins and Marsh and Quirk Reffold. However on the final tack to the line Quirk and Reffold snuck through on Higgins and Marsh.

Bill Cuneo and John Warlow, the overall winners of the championship did sail the final race, though they put up a new mainsail - for testing I suppose, and finished 13th - forget that one I think boys.

The other winners were South Australia for the teams trophy, Cuneo/Warlow won the masters Earle Alexander and Ian Gregg were the Grand Masters and fifth overall.

There was no U21 winner, and Sarah Withall won the female trophy in 21st place. Handicap winner was Martin Pike and Pip Pearson on Sleek.

Overall, it was a fantastic regatta. The location was incredible and the support from the sponsors and the team at Hamilton Island really made it work. Certainly the partners loved it; you would come in from sailing to find them enjoying cocktails or sailing the Island cats, or snorkelling and looking for turtles. I don't think it will be the last dinghy regatta the Island hosts.

505 - Australian Nationals 2008

1 8922 Daring Kestrel 2 Bill Cuneo John Warlow 37 18
2 8946 Hawaii Five O Sandy Higgins Paul Marsh 60 22
3 8920 The White Boat Michael Quirk Simon Reffold 68 28
4 8877 Commonwealth Bank Robin Deussen Jordan Spencer 47 30
5 8890 Groove Train Malcolm Higgins Nick Johnston 78 34
6 8781 Alexander & Associate Earle Alexander Ian Gregg 53 35
7 8921 Sweaty Betty Nigel Lott Robert Franks 61 38
8 8853 FARM Carter Jackson Darren Nicholson 77 38
9 8557 Whatever Neil Andrew Long Mick ODonnell 86 55
10 8524 Fiveomagic Rich Gallimore Mark Jackson 91 58
11 8759 The Missus Scot Overden Bryce Penfold 99 70
12 8644 Jeanneau Yachts Phil Gray Darren Gilbert 106 72
13 8395 Timaay Paul Mitchell Sam Haines 136 84
14 8185 Earle Grey Paul Ridgway Gavin Dagley 117 84
15 8840 Alarm Innovations Kevin Cameron Bevan Webber 153 101
16 8884 Moist Entertainment Dylan Clark Silas Nolan 144 103
17 8760 Noodle Tour Peter Woolman Phil Webb 164 106
18 8864 Primary Occupation Hamish Jarrett Chris Pearson 161 107
19 8795 Sleek Martin Pike Pip Pearson 156 114
20 8648 ezyboats.com Jeffrey Robinson Lachlan Hornsby 166 116
21 8783 Lucy Furr Sarah Withall Marcus Cooper 180 122
22 8796 Fangin Hoons Jonno Bannister Matt Burns 190 132
23 8891 The Surly Mermaid Adrian Cooper Dan Haydon 201 143
24 8454 Who Cares Chris Burnup John Mclean 201 151
25 8637 Blowflies Sam Cronin Federico M Lauro 213 155
26 8628 Grumpy Old Men Peter Croft David Murphy 209 157
27 7514 Free Surface Fx Jaymie Worrell Tony Briggs 253 195
28 8504 Shark Mike Davies Kym McKee 261 203