2014 VX ONE Midwinter Championships - Alan Moffat wins

by Andrew York on 13 Jun 2014 The second VX One Winter Nationals held at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron was a testament to the resolve the class and its owner have to promote the class and enjoy the fun of racing it in a one design fleet.

Michael James organised the event with yacht club, he got a group of sponsors together for the event and paid for every ones entry! Even though most of us were travelling from Sydney or Canberra a free regatta in Queensland in winter is a no brainer.

Scott Lawson organised his boat to be trucked up was flying in and out. On Thursday morning, the day his boat was to be picked up the truck driver pulls out and leaves him stranded. Most people would have bailed but Scott rearranges everything and jumps in his car that day to tow his boat up.

Phil Tomkins is not able to get his boat to Brisbane so Andrew York builds an extra frame on his trailer so that he can double deck Phil’s boat to the venue. Phil flew up to the regatta leaving his young family in Sydney. He then flew back on Monday night to be with them before flying out to China for a week the following day.

Brian Bennett the class designer and stalwart flew to Australia with his son Hayden for the regatta. Brian gave rigging and tuning tips as well as taking pictures of the boats on the water while Hayden crewed for Scott Lawson. Brian also updated the fleet on the latest development within the class overseas.

Ovington are producing boats in England and have their nationals scheduled for September. Mackay have also started production in New Zealand. ISAF international status is expected before next summer and there should be 100 boats on the water world-wide by the end of the year!

The weather was warm and the racing was great. As the forecast for Monday was for well over 20 knots the PRO ran four races on Saturday and four on Sunday. The breeze was eight to thirteen knots on day one and this suited Yorky who had local Opti sailor Josh Van Roon on board as well as Matt Craig his regular forward hand. With a one, two, two, five scorecard they finished the day equal on points to Michael James and Jordan Spencer who had finishes of four, three, one, two.

Sunday brought more breeze, the 15 to 18 knots was made to order for Alan Moffat with Alex Gough calling tactics and Chris Hurling forward who ruled the day with two, one, three, one to lead Yorky overnight by two points.

One race on the final day in 18 to 20 knots again suited Alan and his crew who won the race and regatta comfortably. Freddo Kasparek with daughter Lauren and Andrew Reed came second in the race and nudged Yorky by a point for second in the regatta.

It was a great weekend with the commitment of the owners to insure the success of the VX One class in Australia making it special.

We had seven boats all sailed owner sailors at a location not central to most. This is a great result, well done and thanks to everyone.

2014 VX ONE Midwinter Championships complete results:

Series Results [VX ONE Overall] up to Race 9 (Drops = 2)

Place	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 9	Race 8	Race 7	Race 6	Race 5	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1	126	WOW Factor	A Moffatt	RQYS	12.0	1.0	1.0	3.0	1.0	2.0	1.0	[6.0]	3.0	[6.0]
2	127	Weapon of Choice	F Kasparek	CYC	17.0	2.0	4.0	1.0	3.0	1.0	3.0	3.0	[5.0]	[5.0]
3	136	Tachyon	A York	CYCA	18.0	4.0	2.0	2.0	5.0	[5.0]	[5.0]	2.0	2.0	1.0
4	146	The Beast	M James	RQYS	20.0	3.0	[5.0]	4.0	4.0	3.0	2.0	[4.0]	1.0	3.0
5	155	Numero Uno	S Lawson	CYCA	21.0	[8.0S]	3.0	5.0	2.0	4.0	4.0	1.0	[7.0]	2.0
6	139	Rock Hard	P Tomkins	CYCA	38.0	5.0	6.0	6.0	6.0	[8.0S]	6.0	5.0	[6.0]	4.0
7	147	The Limit	K Walters	CYC	45.0	6.0	7.0	7.0	7.0	[8.0R]	7.0	7.0	4.0	[7.0]