Lachlan Gilbert reclaims Australian Mirror Championship Title

by Grant Atherton on 8 Jan 2009

Sydney Ports 43rd International Mirror Class Australian Championships 2009 Ernie Spielman

Sydneysider Lachlan Gilbert sailing with his son Finn in Stanley Crocodile took out the Sydney Ports 43rd Australian Mirror Championships sailed on Sydney’s Middle Harbour from the Balmoral Sailing Club. Lachlan sailed an imported GRP Mark III Mirror for the event which created much interest in the boat park before racing began and even more interest after he had shown his speed in the Cliff Scott Memorial Invitation Race.

Last years winners Tasmanians Jessie Atherton and Katherine Maher in Kamikaze finished second overall in a count back from Greg and Ben Field in Juke Box. The heats were conducted in a variety of winds mainly in the 5 to 15 knot range with the occasional 15 to 20 knot bursts to liven up the sailing.

32 boats contested the series with some new faces getting back into the class after determining their children were now old enough to sail in the Mirror. Families featured extensively in the fleet with 19 of the entrants comprising parent and child or sibling pairings. Generally the parents were helming but the were exceptions including Robbie Hunt who gave up a spot in the Tasmanian Sabot Team to helm his father Quentin’s Mirror Fizz, with Quentin moving forward to the crew position. The combination worked well for a well deserved 10th overall.

A notable performance was produced by former triple World Fireball Champion John Dransfield who had only recently got into a Mirror with his son Jesse. Late in the series after getting the hang of the Mirror, they were able to lead the fleet in both heats 8 and 9 but had to be content with a fourth and second by the end of these heats and a 9th overall.

There were four different heat winners with Stanley Crocodile winning six heats, Kamikaze winning two heats, Juke Box 1 heat and Mark Barrington and Molly Hutton in Kamikaze II winning one heat. The Tasmanian teenage girls in Kamikaze took out the Junior Title, while Kamikaze II took out the Veterans Title and was fourth overall – the first gaff rigged finisher, Jenny Graney and Daniel McAulley in Carpe Diem took out the Norm Deane Masters Title, and Juke Box took out the Frank Buxton Family Title.

The 2010-2011 Mirror World Championships will be sailed from the Princess Royal Sailing Club in Albany WA and the opportunity to sail in a world championship in Australia is expected to swell Australian Mirror fleets over the next couple of seasons.

Overall

Sailed:10, Discards:2, To count:8, Entries:32, Scoring system:Default scoring system
Rank	Points	Boat	SailNo	Helm	Crew	Club	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6	Race 7	Race 8	Race 9	Race 10
1st	11.0	Stanley Crocodile	70464	Lachlan Gilbert	Finn Gilbert	HHSC NSW	1.0	2.0	(4.0)	1.0	(4.0)	1.0	1.0	1.0	3.0	1.0
2nd	20.0	Kamikaze	69196	Jessie Atherton	Katherine Maher	KBSC Tas	3.0	(6.0)	1.0	3.0	(6.0)	2.0	3.0	2.0	1.0	5.0
3rd	20.0	Jukebox	70170	Greg Field	Ben Field	HHSC NSW	(4.0)	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	(4.0)	4.0	3.0	4.0	2.0
4th	36.0	Kamikaze II	70063	Mark Barrington	Molly Hutton	KBSC Tas	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.0	1.0	6.0	5.0	(7.0)	(8.0)	4.0
5th	43.0	Stealth	70117	Anita Scott-Murphy	Ben Cruse	WSC Vic	(33.0 OCS)	8.0	3.0	6.0	3.0	3.0	9.0	5.0	(11.0)	6.0
6th	49.0	Time & Tide	57705	Paul Taylor	Austin Taylor	PRSC WA	(10.0)	9.0	7.0	8.0	5.0	7.0	2.0	8.0	(18.0)	3.0
7th	55.0	Guppy Too	70180	Stephen Foster	Jack Harriss	HHSC NSW	6.0	4.0	6.0	9.0	7.0	11.0	(12.0)	6.0	6.0	(12.0)
8th	57.0	Predator	70454	Paddy Gilbert	Daniel Barnett	HHSC NSW	2.0	3.0	9.0	4.0	9.0	(14.0)	(13.0)	10.0	10.0	10.0
9th	63.0	Critical Path	69360	John Dransfield	Jesse Dransfield	MHYC NSW	8.0	(33.0 DNS)	10.0	13.0	8.0	9.0	(33.0 DNF)	4.0	2.0	9.0
10th	79.0	Fizz	70177	Robert Hunt	Quentin Hunt	KBSC Tas	(16.0)	12.0	12.0	11.0	11.0	5.0	8.0	13.0	(20.0)	7.0
11th	80.0	Ajax	69161	Phil Barnett	Ella Barnett	HHSC NSW	7.0	7.0	11.0	12.0	15.0	8.0	(33.0 DNF)	(19.0)	7.0	13.0
12th	88.0	Carpe Diem	68678	Jenny Graney	Daniel McAulley	KBSC Tas	9.0	10.0	(33.0 RAF)	7.0	13.0	13.0	7.0	15.0	(16.0)	14.0
13th	91.4	More Rhubarb	68044	Douglas Raftesaft	Edward Raftesaft	BSC NSW	13.0	11.0	8.0	(21.0)	14.0	(16.0)	15.0	14.0	5.0	11.4 RDGc
14th	97.0	Foxy Lady	70146	Alex Hunt	David McAully	KBSC Tas	(17.0)	15.0	16.0	10.0	(19.0)	10.0	10.0	11.0	17.0	8.0
15th	98.3	Fria II	68670	Rick Longbottom	Rohan/Fergus Longbottom	CYC ACT	14.0	(33.0 DNS)	12.3 RDGc	17.0	12.0	12.0	6.0	(33.0 OCS)	14.0	11.0
16th	99.0	Arrow	69358	Rebecca Price	Megan Price	OSC Qld	11.0	13.0	13.0	15.0	(17.0)	15.0	11.0	12.0	9.0	(16.0)
17th	119.0	Spooky	45291	Jeejee Unwalla	Jessica Unwalla	HHSC NSW	15.0	(18.0)	14.0	16.0	16.0	(18.0)	14.0	16.0	13.0	15.0
18th	122.0	Harmony	69193	Andrew Divola	Will Divola	Manly 18ft	12.0	(33.0 DNS)	15.0	14.0	18.0	17.0	16.0	(22.0)	12.0	18.0
19th	138.0	Quickstep II	70064	Lawson Taylor	Mitchell Sainty	PRSC WA	19.0	14.0	18.0	18.0	20.0	(22.0)	19.0	9.0	21.0	(33.0 DSQ)
20th	142.0	Sea Joule	70192	Celia May	Oliver Sevil	HHSC NSW	18.0	17.0	19.0	(20.0)	(21.0)	19.0	17.0	20.0	15.0	17.0
21st	153.0	Wet Stuff	16034	Carl Nicholls	Will Nicholls	HHSC NSW	21.0	19.0	23.0	19.0	10.0	(24.0)	18.0	23.0	(26.0)	20.0
22nd	155.0	Woody	70169	Tara Foster	Isabella Shields	HHSC NSW	20.0	16.0	17.0	(23.0)	(33.0 DNS)	23.0	23.0	18.0	19.0	19.0
23rd	166.0	Octopussy	70068	Rex Henderson	Brittany Henderson	RFBYC WA	(26.0)	20.0	20.0	(22.0)	22.0	20.0	20.0	21.0	22.0	21.0
24th	190.0	Mise	70385	Garnet Kinlay	Madaline Kinlay	BSC NSW	22.0	21.0	(33.0 DNF)	25.0	(33.0 DNS)	26.0	22.0	26.0	25.0	23.0
25th	190.0	Aquanaut	63043	Stuart Poignand	Max Poignand	HHSC NSW	24.0	24.0	21.0	(27.0)	23.0	25.0	(33.0 DNS)	25.0	24.0	24.0
26th	200.0	One Step Beyond	69362	Andrew Dixon Hughes	Lucy/Polly Dixon Hughes	BSC NSW	23.0	(33.0 DNS)	26.0	29.0	25.0	(30.0)	25.0	17.0	28.0	27.0
27th	204.0	Sizzling Swan	68655	Alan Hornbuckle	Ben Alsop	BSC NSW	25.0	22.0	24.0	(33.0 DNS)	(33.0 DNS)	27.0	21.0	33.0 DNS	27.0	25.0
28th	204.0	Uppercut	11719	Anthony Mandl	Judy Engall	BSC NSW	28.0	(33.0 DNS)	22.0	24.0	24.0	(33.0 DNS)	33.0 DNS	24.0	23.0	26.0
29th	219.0	Spiegel	67800	Steve Malone	Daniel Foster	BSC NSW	27.0	25.0	27.0	(33.0 DNS)	(33.0 DNS)	28.0	24.0	29.0	30.0	29.0
30th	224.0	Offcuts	63727	David Sanders	Thomas/Benjamin Sanders	HHSC NSW	(33.0 OCS)	23.0	(33.0 DNS)	26.0	33.0 DNS	21.0	33.0 DNS	33.0 DNS	33.0 DNS	22.0
31st	227.0	Tiger's Tail	67151	Matt Collis	James Carson	BSC NSW	(33.0 DNS)	(33.0 DNS)	25.0	28.0	26.0	29.0	33.0 DNS	27.0	31.0	28.0
32nd	227.0	Scallywag 2	11428	Ian Harriss	Bethany Harriss	HHSC NSW	29.0	26.0	28.0	30.0	27.0	(33.0 DNF)	(33.0 DNS)	28.0	29.0	30.0

Scoring codes used

Code	Description	Points
DNF	Started but did not finish	33
DNS	Came to the start area but did nto start	33
DSQ	Disqualification	33
OCS	On course side at start or broke rule 30.1	33
RAF	Retired after finishing	33
RDGc	Redress - average points for all non-discard races	Varies