Melges 24 East Coast Championship victory for Bandit

by Tracey Walters on 7 Nov 2011
The Melges 24 East Coast Championships, which took place over two days and six exciting races, has resulted in victory for Bandit AUS 814 who claimed the title over Accru 679 by only a single point.

The friendly rivalry between owners and training partners Warwick Rooklyn Bandit and Kevin Nixon Accru has a long history in 18ft skiffs. The team aboard Bandit Dave O’Connor, Doug McGain, Jay Griffin and Julian Plante took an impressive four bullets over the series and demonstrated slick crew work and superior downwind speed.

The understated team on Accru sailed consistently throughout the regatta and were day two winners demonstrating the benefits of team work. The entire Nixon Family crew Accru including Kevin’s wife Glenda, son Daniel and daughter Bonnie, another competitor describing them as the 'Smiling assassins' and the ones to watch at Lake Macquarie in a fortnights time.

The final race of the series gave the Avalon Sailing Club team Amigos AUS 816 their first regatta race win outsmarting the fleet in shifty conditions with superior local knowledge as a thunderstorm threatened. Skipper Geoff Fogarty’s instincts took over as he sniffed out every zephyr on Pittwater to take the win over Accru. Ex-Commodore of Avalon Sailing Club Fogarty drew on experience since sailing Fireballs on Pittwater in the nineteen some things.

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Taking third place in the final race and in the series overall Anthony Passmore Planit AUS 686. After chartering a Melges 32 at Hamilton Island Passmore was hooked on Melges and purchased 686 when it returned from the Worlds in Texas. The East Coast Championships is the first regatta for Planit who proved they are no slouch with three seconds over the weekend.

Series Results [One Design ET] for Melges 24 up to Race 6

Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 6	Race 5	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		AUS814	Bandit	Warrick Rooklyn	CYCA	14.0	8.0	2.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
2		AUS679	Accru+	Kevin Nixon	RPAYC	15.0	2.0	1.0	3.0	2.0	4.0	3.0
3		AUS686	Planit	Anthony Passmore	RPAYC	23.0	3.0	6.0	2.0	8.0	2.0	2.0
4		AUS746	No Comment	Murray Walters	RPAYC	28.0	7.0	7.0	4.0	3.0	3.0	4.0
5		AUS19	Matilda	Jim Dargaville	RPAYC	34.0	6.0	4.0	5.0	6.0	5.0	8.0
6	1.0S	AUS816	Amigos	Geoff Fogarty	RPAYC	37.0	1.0	9.0	9.0	4.0	8.0	6.0
7		USA133	Foxtrot	Dan O'Connell	RPAYC	37.0	5.0	3.0	8.0	5.0	6.0	10.0F
8		AUS815	Outrage-us	Gary Shanks	ASC	40.0	4.0	5.0	6.0	9.0	9.0	7.0
9		AUS762	Huey II	Damian Huon	RPAYC	43.0	9.0	8.0	7.0	7.0	7.0	5.0
10		AUS215	Arriba Arriba	Ray Carless	RPAYC	66.0	11.0C	11.0C	11.0C	11.0C	11.0C	11.0C

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Thanks to SLAM for sponsoring the Championships and the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club for a great weekends racing and club entertainment.