Paper Tiger Catamaran Australian Championship 2013 - All rosy

by Russell Jolly on 21 Jan 2013 The Paper Tiger Catamaran Championship 2013 completed all nine races on Sunday at Meningie Sailing Club with Bruce Rose bagging his fourth championship by racking up 18 points just ahead of Alex Craig with 21 points and Bryan Anderson with 24 points.

The Nine race series was held at the Meningie Sailing Club on the Waters of Lake Albert, South Australia. Six races over the first three days saw positions change dramatically, shifty conditions and varying winds from four to fifteen knots tested even the best of skippers. At this point Alex Craig from Victoria was holding first position followed by Bruce Rose, Bryan Anderson, six times winner, his father Peter Anderson three times winner and Garry Williams four times winner. Everything pointed to a very exciting contest, but in the end it was Bruce Rose who won through for his fourth Championship with 18 points from Alex Craig on 21 and Bryan Anderson on 24.

Sailors in the forty boat fleet came from New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia.

Organisers were pleased to have some close racing between experienced female competitors, with the best placing going to Sarah Ashley-Jones from McCrae in Victoria in twentieth place. Commendation should also go to Janica Marcovitch for some great sailing with a eleventh in one race.

The Class has a rosy future; the boat is an excellent catamaran for the younger person to learn on in fact Olympian sailor Glen Ashby started his career in the Paper Tiger. Sixteen-year old junior Joshua Thorpe from the Bendigo Club took out eleventh place and the Junior Championship. The oldest sailor was Bob Ramsay who at seventy six years of age has a twenty first placing. Bob won the title back in nineteen eighty one.

In two out of every three years Australia competes against the New Zealand Team for there interdominion cup, a hotly contested event. The Australian team are current cup holders, and the coming Interdominion regatta is set down for Easter. The event will feature our team comprised of the top ten Australian sailors and a further ten Aussies. They will sail against a similarly selected Kiwi team at the Mutitai Club in Wellington over four days