47th Sabot National Championship - Need for Speed wins

by Peter McIntosh on 6 Jan 2011 47th Australian Sabot Championships final day's report.

Young man for all seasons Henry Makin came from behind with a blistering finish to win the 47th Australian Sabot Championships on the final day of racing in Wynyard, Tasmania.

With eight of 10 races completed the 13-year-old Gosford Sailing Club sailor was in third place with Drummoyne's Caitlin Tames in a strong position, four points ahead of South Queenslander Tom Siganto and eight ahead of Henry.

What a difference the last two races can make when Makin is makin' every tack count in Need For Speed. While the gallant leader Caitlin, 15, had to add a 10th and fourth placing to her scorecard and Tom slipped back on points to eventually finish third overall, Henry nailed both races in a rolling Bass Strait swell.

In the final wash-up Henry and Caitlin had each tallied 22 points but Henry, who managed four first placings to Caitlin's three, was overall winner on countback.

In fourth, fifth and sixth place after Tom's third were Sydney's Daniel Barnett, Gosford's Kurt Hansen and Sydney's George Stent.

For the Makin family it was a special day, a year on since Henry's younger brother Jordan crewed with Sophie McIntosh on the boat which won the junior championship at Gosford, Double Diamond.

Henry's Northern NSW zone coach Hugh Leicester said the competitors experienced the full array of conditions over five days of competition in Bass Strait. It ranged from shifty, gusty offshore breeze, two races of steady sea breeze and three races of easterlies which presented the sailors with large running waves that most competitors had never experienced before.

'Henry, to win, had to adopt to conditions largely foreign to him which makes his effort all the more exceptional,' said Leicester.

'His starts in the last three races were the best in the fleet and went a long way towards his achievement in winning the championship.'

Asked how he felt about his dramatic win, quietly spoken Henry said he was ``happy, excited - it was unexpected.'

'When I first came here I was going to be happy with a top 10 placing,' he said.

'I knew I could win but didn't really expect it. In the last race I had to beat Caitlin by three places to win. I won and she was fourth and it was decided on countback.'

This was Henry's third season in Sabots and his second nationals. Last year at Gosford he finished 16th. He plans to move on to Laser and 29er sailing but recommended Sabots to youngsters keen to learn to sail because the class had plenty of opportunity for keen competition.

The Gosford club was also toasting the success of Henry's teammates including Kurt Hansen's fifth placingl, winning a race in the process, and Matt Lang, who was 10th in the fleet of 57.

The top Tasmanians were Hobart's Jack Calvert in Lose Cannon who finished 15th, just ahead of teammate Dylan Van Drunen in Red Herring.

The junior championship for younger sailors attracted 17 entries and was comfortably won by South Queenslanders Ben Markey and Andy Russell in Nos from teammates Erza Pritchard and Abby Siganto in Wally's Weapon and Nicole and Jack Carter in Class Act.

Sailors and parents agreed the long trip to Tasmania, with boats on trailers peppered by occasional clouds of locusts, was well worth the effort in getting there. The reward was a highly well organised, friendly and fun regatta, consistent breeze and the thrill of sailing in waters where the odd seal and even a whale made an appearance.

With the odd abalone diver involved, some of the rescues of wayward Sabots returning to the river at low tide put the boat driving and rescue skills to the test with impressive results. It was probably better, though, that it was after the event that a Tasmanian casually mentioned as we drove to the airport that there had been a rare visitation of killer whales in north-western Tassie in recent weeks. Oh well, no worse than Tassie Tigers, I hear.

Thanks for the great hospitality, Wynyard and Tassie.

Top 10

1 7017 Need for Speed Sabot 1-Up NNSW Henry Makin
2 7015 How Sweet It Is! Sabot 1-Up SNSW Caitlin Tames
3 3921 Guided Missile Sabot 1-Up SQ Tom Siganto
4 7055 High Voltage Sabot 1-Up SNSW Daniel Barnett
5 7059 Top Gear Sabot 1-Up NNSW Kurt Hansen
6 7044 Vendetta Sabot 1-Up SNSW George Stent
7 7011 Cookie Munster Sabot 1-Up SQ Trevor Koreman
8 3834 Out Of Reach Sabot 1-Up SQ Stuart Skinner
9 3860 Stay Tuned Sabot 1-Up SQ Hayden Johnson
10 7004 Slippery Little Sucker Sabot 1-Up NSW Matthew Lang

Full results at Sabot Nationals website