K2 crowned 2010 Farr 30 National Champion

by Tom Spithill & Damien Devine on 25 Mar 2010 Kirwan Robb and crew aboard ‘K2' from SYC, Victoria has regained the National crown after a two year reign by Guy Stening's ‘Optimumm' after the final day of the Farr 30 Nationals hosted by the RPAYC over the week-end.

Coming into the final day of racing the top three positions were still up for grabs with ‘K2', ‘Optimumm' and ‘GOA' all in with a chance to win the Nationals, with five races to be completed.

RO Ted Anderson predicted the wind would come in at 11:00 from East North East, and that is exactly what happened. After a short postponement, the wind started to strengthen to 8 to 10 knots, enough to get racing underway.

The first race got underway, with Colin Loel's ‘Asterix' nailing the start, and gaining an early lead on the fleet. ‘Asterix', eager to better their performance from the previous days racing, went onto build on this lead sailing a flawless race to take a convincing win, the first of the regatta. This left ‘K2', ‘Optimumm' and ‘GOA' to battle it out for second and third with the final results showing‘K2' placing second ahead of ‘Optimumm' in third.

With ‘K2' extending her lead on the championship there was plenty of pressure on the other boats to try and put a stop to it. This was shown in the start of the second race of the day with plenty of action on the start line, as the boats battled to get the favoured end of the start line to gain an early advantage. ‘Optimumm' pushed a bit too hard, and as a result were OCS at the start, and were forced to come back and restart. ‘K2', found herself in the wind shadow of the other boats off the start line leaving ‘GOA' to get a clean start, along with ‘Asterix'. ‘Goa' went on to win the race, with ‘Asterix' second and ‘K2' third.

The pressure was mounting on ‘Optimumm' to get some runs on the board, and with a perfect start in the third race of the day; they were onto the right path. Once ‘Optimumm' found themselves in clear air, they sailed a consistent race, leaving ‘GOA' and ‘K2' few passing lanes to get by them, to all finish in that order.

For the fourth race of the day, the start was almost picture perfect with the fleet evenly spaced up the line, bar ‘Synergy' who had to bail out early from the pin end of the line as they ran out of space. This saw one of the closest races of the day with the fleet closely overlapped with each other throughout the race.

‘Optimumm' were leading down the first run by the smallest of margins with ‘Asterix' hot on their tail. As ‘K2' approached the bottom mark she called starboard on ‘GOA' and forced them to gybe away from the bottom mark, ‘K2' immediately gybed back and managed to sail to the bottom gate with no issue, ‘GOA' on the other hand found her self struggling to sail back to the gate at a shy angle. While all this was happening ‘Optimumm' had rounded the bottom mark and were approaching ‘GOA', who was still struggling to get to the mark. ‘Optimumm' had to bear away to avoid ‘GOA and immediately protested ‘GOA' for being the windward boat and failing to keep clear. ‘GOA' being at fault undertook the 360 degree penalty turn.

‘Optimumm' was never challenged after this incident and held onto first place, for Asterix' and ‘K2', who finished second and third.

For the fifth and final race of the day to complete the 10 race regatta, RO Ted Anderson elected to do a one lap sprint as time was running out. ‘K2' had established a clear points lead sitting on 18 points with both ‘Optimumm' and ‘Goa' sitting in equal second on 23 points.

So after nine races the championship wins was in sight for ‘K2', all they had to do was place sixth or better, and with them not placed outside the top three for whole regatta, this was a safe bet. The race for second place would come down to who beat who in the final race.

The moment the starting sequences started, it was clear who ‘GOA' had their eyes on, ‘Optimumm'. Both boats engaged in their own little match race, battling each other for the best start. As both boats went off the line, ‘Optimumm' held the early advantage, and managed to hold a tight cover on ‘GOA'.

Meanwhile ‘Asterix', who was having a ripper of a day, got off to a terrific start and didn't look back, to take his second win of the day. ‘K2' was happy to follow in second cementing his win for the series and the glory of being crowned National Farr 30 Champion for 2010. ‘Italian Job' placed third with ‘Optimumm' coming in next beating ‘Goa' across the line to place fourth in the race and runner up for the regatta, one point clear of podium finisher ‘GOA'.

Boat of the day and class president, ‘Asterix' Colin Loel commented on the days racing. 'It was a terrific days racing for the Farr 30 class. To have 4 different heat winners out of the 5 races today shows how strong the racing is. Well done to Kirwan Rob and his crew they were just so consistent.'

For final results go to http://www.rpayc.com.au/images/stories/Results/pointscore.htm