29ers Australian Mid-Winter Youth Championships - Makin brothers lead

by David Price on 7 Jul 2012 With first day of racing concluded at the 2012 Australian Mid-Winter Youth Championships on Waterloo Bay, Brisbane, Queensland, the 29er fleet leaders are a mixed bag of NSW, QLD and NZL crews with only a handful of points between them.

With three races scheduled for the day, racing got underway at 1130hrs in fresh 18kt-22kts cool southerly on Bravo Course off Green Island, with plenty of fetch providing very lumpy conditions for the young speedsters to work their way in the direction of Wellington Point to the top mark. The race committee adopted a trapezoid course with the outer windward mark unable to be reached under spinnaker by the 29ers yielding a soldier’s march to the wing mark where the downwind skills could begin to be engaged.

Leading the conga line were the brothers Henry and Grant Makin AUS 648 from the NSW Youth Sailing Team with local team Charlie Wyatt and Lewis Brake 1873 Panther QLD, Harry Price and Nathan Edwards AUS 1407 Crunchie NSWYST, Nina Long and Ben Robinson 1696 Benni NSWYST in pursuit, and Jack Abbott and Bevan East 1940 Edge of Glory VIC fighting hard for fifth spot with Harry Morton and Israel Smith 1879 Ship Happens NSW.

Although there was action aplenty in such conditions, the AUS 648 held their ground and took the win for race 1 from AUS 1407 Crunchie with 1873 Panther taking third place.

Race 2 was also led by the Makin brothers, with New Zealanders Trent Rippey and Alex Munro NZL 418 Frequent Flyer NZL joining the front line action with the usual suspects from race 1. By the end of the two lap race AUS 648 had secured their second bullet ahead of NZL 418 Frequent Flyer followed by 1696 Benni jumping on the podium for third place.

The fleet literally bound out of the gate in the final race of the day with seaway now breaking waves at the start line. After a relatively equal split to both sides of the course 1873 Panther seized the top mark ahead of AUS 648 with AUS 1407 Crunchie following their wake. A few boat lengths further back were 1696 Benni with George Stent and Daniel Barnett 1871 Vendetta NSWYST now marking their turf amongst the vanguard of the fleet.

1873 Panther dominated the whole way to the finish with AUS 648 covering AUS 1407 Crunchie’s final attack nicely to score second and third places respectively.

The top five places on the leader board after three races are:
1. NSW Henry and Grant Makin AUS 648 1,1,2-4
2. QLD Charlie Wyatt and Lewis Brake 1873 Panther 3,4,1-8
3. NSW Harry Price and Nathan Edwards AUS 1407 Crunchie 2,5,3-10
4. NSW Nina Long and Ben Robinson 1696 Benni 4,3,4-11
5. NZL Trent Rippey & Alex Munro NZL 418 Frequent Flyer 6,2,8-16

Full results as available
RQYS website