Massive Mandurah

by MOFSC Media on 24 Apr 2011 The Mandurah Easter Regatta proved once again to be the premier dinghy and multi-hull event on the Western Australian calendar when it kicked off today on a boisterous Comet Bay. With over 150 yachts entered, 100 volunteers and three courses, the regatta got interesting when the breeze turned into a pre-frontal north-westerly, the only direction from which the big bay is not protected.

Principal Race Officer Robin Olsen commented, 'The WA kids are really tough. They’ve grown up with big breezes and big waves. I’ve got Chris Kelly running Alpha course, John McKechnie on Charlie course, and an armada of support boats that we have been developing for years.'

The 'WA kids' competing in the regatta ranged from nine-year-olds like Mandurah’s Grace Abbott, sailing in her first season in her Optimist Optimist Prime (not to be confused with the Marten 49 of similar name), to sailing royalty like John Cassidy on his Contender Black Tie and America’s Cup skipper Gordon Lucas re-living his youth on the Fireball Second Wind.

Being a coaching regatta, the full WA Institute of Sport sailing squad was present, including World Champion Steven Thomas, sailing his 49er The Stig with crewman Nick Brownie, RS-X sailboarder Eamon Robertshaw sailing Dental Sedation Services, up-and-coming Laser sailor Tristan Brown sailing Boating Hardware, and 420 Dinghy specialists Monique de Vries and Chelsea Hall sailing Matrickx.

The standard of coaching was reasonable too, with Olympic 470 Gold Medallist Belinda Stowell backed up by a bevy of high profile fellows, including the Marquis of Match Racing, Peter Gilmour.

Outstanding results for Day One included Richard Maher’s Whoopy Doo going 1-2-1-1 in the Optimist Gold fleet, Jayden Dalton’s Suzie Q grabbing four bullets in Optimist Silver, Eamon Robertshaw taking three firsts and a second in the RS-X sailboard, Angus Galloway and Alex Gough dominating the 420 with four firsts, Gordon Lucas and Maxie Puttman going 3-1-1 in the Fireball, Ben Walkemeyer in 193111 keeping a clean sheet in the Laser 4.7, and Matt Wearn enjoying the big conditions to bank four bullets in his Laser Radial, The Kennel.

Husband and wife team Scott & Julie Olsen joined the 'four wins' club in their Tasar Unleashed, while the 29er results look like a shoot out between Tess Lloyd & Lewis Duncan, versus Royal Freshwater Bay crew Ella Guidice & Courtney Higgins.

In the ultra-high-performance Olympic 49er class, the promising combination of the versatile Lukey Parkinson and World Champion Jasper 'Fang' Warren sailed Maverick & Goose to a 2-2-1-1 scorecard, and look like slipping away from the quality fleet.

In the Contenders, the popular John 'Casso' Cassidy proved the old adage 'first out, first back' by recording a 1-2-1-1 result, closely followed by Richard Shallcross sailing Firehorse with 4-1-3-2. The awesome Formula 16 & 18 catamarans enjoyed the 15-20 knot breeze, to share the results around. Gavin & Mark Parker’s Damn Lucky was fortunate to hold the lead with a consistent 3-2-2-3 result.

Not to mention the foiling Moths… these uber-gadgets seem to like a fairly narrow range of conditions, and today was not in that band. The fleet provided a lot of entertainment to the VIP spectators, however, especially when gybing.

Full results here: http://www.sportspage.com.au/yacht_clubs/mofsc/mofsc.htm