WalterTurnbull dominates Elliott 7 fleet at National Titles

by Jim Walsh on 17 Apr 2009
The strongest fleet ever contested the National Elliott 7 titles, which were extremely well conducted by WMYC and the Queensland fleet led by Andrew Barney. Whilst the 20 knot SE trade winds, that were promised never arrived, the fleet had challenging conditions with some races allowing the crew to set kites at every mark.

The first day saw a 10 knot SE breeze with several recalls as the fleet were eager to get away. WalterTurnbull started with two wins with a Humungus, Formula Pye, Evergreen and Barney Army filling the minor places, A glimmer of hope for the others in the third race when Mitchell Sails took out first with Woof second and WalterTurnbull third.

The second day had a windward/leeward race in the morning with the unsettled breeze dying, swinging, raining, dying and swinging again. However despite this, WalterTurnbull still managed to sail away from the fleet to win by a very large margin. Escapade dragged themselves out of the gloom to come second with Mitchell Sails third.

The fleet then headed off on a passage race around Peel Island; the unsettled breeze had boats on either side of the course leading at some stage. It finally settled into the SE and with the outgoing tide the boats pushed the edge tacking around the island.

Evergreen pushed that little bit more than most . 'I stood up to tack and the next thing I know was 'bang' and I’m head first down the companion way hatch ... I can see why the locals have depth sounders' said Greenie (Mike Green).

The fleet then headed back up the bay with the committee wisely deciding to shorten the course. WalterTurnbull took line honours with Barney Army, continuing their great regatta, second and Evergreen recovering from their incident to come in third. That night the crews headed for a most entertaining evening at the Manly hotel decked out in their Johnny Walker hats.

The final day started with a sunny light 10 knot Easterly. This was the closest racing of the series with the boats rounding the bottom mark 3 or 4 wide. WalterTurnbull sealed their series with a win in the first race with Evergreen and Barney Army battling out for the remaining podium places. Spectating on the last race Owen said 'It was great fun to see 10 boats coming into the bottom mark at the same time, there seemed to be a lot of conversation going on, however this is the closest the fleet has been in years.' Owen continued 'What is more encouraging is the boats that finished third and fourth were the original boats bought to Australia, all they need is a good set of sails and a good crew and they are right up there'

Second placegetter Mike Green said 'Its hard when we get to sail occasionally against boats that are out every week, despite this Pillow is the benchmark we need to reach.'

Andrew Barney commented 'We are stoked in getting third, it is amazing what a set of new sails did to the old girl and my crew sailed extremely well.'

The presentation followed with every boat walking away with a prize of some sort and agreement to hold the Nationals there the next year. The class held a dinner during which an auction was held to raise money for the foundation supported by the class - Benny’s World, www.bennysworld.com. With hats donated by Angus Reid, the auction raised over $500 for research.

The next event on the Calender is the Bay to Bay with a fleet of 10-12 Elliott’s lining up again. There is hope that the fleet will hit 20 for the next National titles.

For more information on the class and boats for sale visit the class website at http://www.elliott7.yachting.org.au/
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Final results were:

Scratch
1st Walter Turnbull
2nd Evergreen
3rd Barney Army

Handicap
1st Evergreen
2nd Dangerzone
3rd Barney Army

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