OAMPS Youth Regatta - A sensational weekend of sailing

by Jennifer Milligan on 24 Apr 2009 The 2009 OAMPS Insurance Brokers Victorian Youth Regatta - incorporating the Victorian Junior Regatta and International 420 Victorian Championships - concluded on Sunday 19th April after a weekend of sensational sailing from all competitors.

With those sailing youth classes completing 11 races and the juniors 10 there was plenty of action on the water.

Melbourne put on some great sailing conditions with clear skies, sunshine and a perfect autumn breeze. Elwood Sailing Club were superb hosts providing a smoothly run regatta both on and off the water.

The Victorian 420 Class Association held their State Championships as part of the regatta and their sailors provided some very close, tactical racing over the weekend.

At the end of day one, Thomas Klemens and Stuart Baird were in the lead on nine points with Henry Say and William Llewelyn second on 12 points and George Davies and Tim Hannah in third with 13 points.

The stakes changed on day two when Davies and Hannah scored three bullets in the last three races of the day moving them up the leader board. A protest by Klemens and Baird over some boats sailing the wrong course during race 7 led to Davies and Hannah moving up in to first place, and claiming the State Championships as well as the Youth 420 prize.

The 29er class was as expected dominated by current Australian National and Australian Youth Champions James Sly and Andrew Gillies finishing with a perfect scoreline. However Jack Lloyd and James Lainson prove they are ones to watch with a score line of seconds discarding their only other score a fourth. Thrid place was taken by Rebecca Tuma and Freya Vickery.

With Alison Dale deciding to sail a Laser Radial rather than the 4.7 that bought her success in Perth, the 4.7 competition was dominiated by Stephen Collings with a final score of 10 points well ahead on Thomas VIncent on 22 and Cameron Parsons who finished third on 26 points.

In the Radial class Jeremy O'Connell took first place on nine points with Alison Dale taking second on 14 points ahead of Ben Gray on 23.

Racing was very close in the International Cadet class with Nikola Dixon and Nicola Armstrong taking first place finsihing on 22 points. Marcus Sasson and Angus Rae were second on 25 and with a split result on the last race, third place by a margin of only point five was Matthew Fitzpatrick and Steven Case with 25.50. The cadet class association and club coaching programs are producing some top comeptitive junior sailors, with the whole fleet racing closely.

Wth a fleet of 22 Optimists Lloyd Collings and James Oliver battled it out for first place with Collings taking the top position finishing on 13 points. Oliver took second on 17 points and James McLennan was third with 19 points. Anna Philip was the first girl across the line in seventh place after the Gowans brothers battled it out for fifth and sixth with Tyronne just beating Rhett by three points.

The Minnow class had a fleet of 14 boats and was dominated by Jack Graves coming first, finishing on 13 points. With only two points separating them, Sam Hannah finished second on 21 points and National Minnow Champion Jack Felsenthal was third with 23 points. Charlotte Llewelyn was the first girl across the line in seventh place.

Brodie Coutts and Jacob Nichols took first place in the 125's finishing on 10 points with William Morris and Caitlin Robinson in second place just three points behind.

Prizes were presented to the winners by and Nick Hill from OAMPS Insurance Brokers.

Elwood Sailing Club ran an excellent regatta and thanks should go to the legion of volunteers that worked tirelessly both on and off the water, with happy sailors and happy parents going home after a hard weekend of sailing.

Thanks also go to event sponsors OAMPS Insurance Brokers and Zhik.

The 2010 Youth & Junior Regatta will be in April at Sorrento Sailing and Couta Boat Club.