NS14 New South Wales Championship 2011 + images

by Michael Chittenden on 27 Apr 2011 The NS14 NSW State Championship held over Easter proved to be a fantastically tight regatta.

With seven prior or current State and National Champions in the fleet together with other world level sailors the six race series was always going to be keenly contested.

Seventy-three boats registered for the event held out of Teralba Amateur Sailing Club on Lake Macquarie. Light shifty winds made for challenging sailing although day two produced better breezes for races 3 and 4. With such a big and competitive fleet the starts gave the race committee a few issues and the black flag came out more often than not to control the line.

After the first couple of races it was apparent that this was going to be a very open regatta with the places at the front featuring several boats; and even by the end of day two (race 4) there were several boats that were in contention although Carbon Neutral (Hugh Tait and Tara McCall) was developing a bit of a break.

However with Carbon Neutral having a relatively poor race 5, the game changed again and gave an opening for 2031 (Peter Vaiciurgis and Tina Babbage) and Aqua Rodent (Rohan Nosworthy and Sophie Holt). The last race became a real battle with the positions ebbing and flowing throughout the race. A tight tacking duel up the last work resulted in Aqua Rodent winning the race but Carbon Neutral secured second which was enough to win the Championship from Aqua Rodent with 2031 third from Salty Lips (Scott Day and Holly Norris).

Being a development class the handicap prize (including a jib from Rob Brewer – the 25th year he has been a sponsor for the event) is much sort after. This year Hairy Lemon (David and Henry Stabback) took out the honours from Tempest (Bryce Edwards and Amanda Stern).

Handicap prize (including a jib from Rob Brewer – the 25th year he has been a sponsor for the event) is much sort after. This year Hairy Lemon (David and Henry Stabback) took out the honours.

The NS14 class has a wide spread of ages and many female skippers so the youth, female and veteran categories were hotly contested. Alex Chittenden (with Danii-Elle Svendsen on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) wrapped up the Youth Trophy. Former National Champion Kylie Vaiciurgis (sailing with Rebecca Wiley on Knot Again) took out the Female Trophy and Duncan Dey (with Joe Ferguson on in a frenzy) retained the veteran trophy. The Veteran Boat trophy went to Boiling Point (Graham and Alice Patterson).

Teralba ASC put on a great regatta in at times trying conditions and the rigging area was a social hubbub especially
around the camping area; the TASC volunteers and Zhik together with Rob and Orica made it all happen.