Sail Brisbane - Dead heat, OCS and excitement on final day

by Craig Heydon on 2 Dec 2010
A dead heat, OCS calls and cream rising feature on Sail Brisbane's final day.

Conditions were much improved for the fourth day of the Sail Brisbane regatta, and the competitors put on a show. The promised 15-20 knot north-easterlies did not eventuate and races were generally sailed in 6-10 knots of breeze, with the pressure sometimes dropping away completely to test the skills of the sailors. But there was no rain.

The very promising Queensland 420 duo of Angus Galloway and Alex Gough had an early end to their regatta. The 10 race series allowed crews to drop their worst two placings. With a scorecard of seven wins and a second place from the first eight, they chose not to sail the final two races of the day.

They now head to Sail Sydney where they expect to encounter 'a few more boats' but Alex commented that the main competitors were all sailing in this regatta. 'They were getting closer to us so it will be a good event down there,' he said.

The talented women's crew of Elloise Brake and Jaime Ryan managed to steal one win from the men and were second in the series, with Shelley White and Georgie Toner third.

The RS:X sailboard class also had an early end. The light winds meant that the two races which were sailed were classified as 'pumping' events, and no more than two 'pumpers' can be sailed in a day.

The series was won by Chang Hao from Taipei, whose reasons for competing at Sail Brisbane included improving his English. As the board sailors de-rigged on the grass in front of the clubhouse, his new Australian friends were busy convincing him that it was traditional for the winner to give a speech at the prize-giving, then get thrown into the water. 'Henry' looked suitably unimpressed.

Seb Wanghansen of Norway was second in the series and Luke Baillie of Australia was third, after he finished second and first in the two races today. Commenting on his final race win, Baillie said, 'I was lucky. The wind died when Seb and I came round the top mark and we were the only ones on the plane. From the last mark to the finish I basically just rowed.'

In the other Olympic class to be sailed at this regatta, the cream continued to rise to the top. Ryan Palk, who dominated early, held off a fast-finishing James Burman to win by three points, with Klade Hauschildt third.

Burman won five races to Palk's three, but some early fifth placings cost him the championship. On the final day he finished first, second and first but had left his run too late.

All three sailors are members of the Australian Sailing Development Squad and showed the benefits of the extra competition this offers. Ryan finished sixth at the Kiel regatta in Germany and both Ryan and Klade made the Gold fleet at the 2010 Laser World Championship.

'I learnt so much in Europe,' Ryan said. 'It was worth 10 times what it cost to go there.' He also thanked his Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron training partner, Klade Hauschildt, saying that having such close racing every day really helped him out when James Burman put the pressure on.

Madison Kennedy sailed a very consistent series in the Laser 4.7, winning the final race to hold off the challenge from Nicholas Connor and Jacqueline Van Soest.

In the competitive Laser Radial, Madison's brother Mitchell Kennedy suffered a scare in the first two races of the day before finishing second in the final race to take the series by two points from Brendan Torpelund with Luke Hookings third. Mitchell also won the Youth section from Daniel Smith and Jake Lilley.

The women's division recorded a win for another international competitor when Claire Blom of the Netherlands was able to drop the last race and still finish ahead of ASDS member Ashley Stoddart on a countback. Christine Bridge was third. Some of the women were so keen to get started they were recorded OCS – on the course side of the start line when the gun went.

Benjamin Rankine continued his dominance in the foiling Moths, with a first, second and a third today. His scorecard included seven bullets from the 10 races. Jack Sherring was second and Nick Flutter third.

The 11 boat Optimist Dinghy fleet saw very close competition at the front. Kyle O'Connell took the title by finishing in the top three in every race. Kye Evans managed two wins to finish second with Xavier Winston Smith third.

The other introductory class, the Sabot, also saw very close finishes with the final race featuring a dead-heat between Kurt Hansen and Tom Siganto. In the series Hansen prevailed, finishing on 12.5 points to Seganto's 15.5, with Henry Makin third. Five different skippers managed race wins, emphasising the competitive nature of the young sailors.

Also close was the 29er, where a countback had to be used to separate Sophie Lahy/Joel Turner and Josh Franklin/Lewis Brake. Both crews finished on 11 points but Lahy and Turner had won four races to Franklin and Brake's three. Jessica Hansen and Liam Hilton were third.

A famous sailing name appears at the top of leaderboard in the Bic Techno, where Samuel Treharne from Middle Harbour Yacht Club was dominant, winning six of the ten races and finishing first in the series by 12 points from Shari O'Brien, with Reece Baillie third on a countback.

Sail Brisbane attracted international entries from eight countries, with 103 sailors aged from 11 to 71 taking part in the event.

From Brisbane, the Sail Down Under Series goes to Sydney next week before concluding with the ISAF World Cup event at Sail Melbourne. Sail Sydney has attracted 227 entries and Melbourne has 306.

Among the competitors at these events will be world and Olympic champions, including three-times Gold medalist Ben Ainslie and defending Laser Gold medalist Paul Goodison from Great Britain. Among the World Champions representing Australia will be Tom Slingsby (Laser), Matt Belcher and Malcolm Page (470) and Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (49er).

For more information on the Sail Down Under Series visit www.saildownunder.org.au