Gemmill Homes Australian Flying Fifteen Championship at Esperance Overall

by Jonny Fullerton, Grand Prix Sailing 4 Jan 2017 23:07 PST 30 December 2016 - 5 January 2017

The Jerwoods on the final day of the Australian Flying Fifteen Championship © Jonny Fullerton

Tonnison and Lovelady on the final day of the Australian Flying Fifteen Championship © Jonny Fullerton

The Jerwoods finish in style

The heat arrived in Esperance with light to moderate breeze for one final race to decide the gongs at the 2017 Gemmill Homes Australian Flying Fifteen Championship.

An early start and a windward/leeward course was set for the final showdown. The breeze fluctuated between 8 - 14 knots from N/NE with plenty of pressure puffs coming off the white sand dunes in Esperance Bay.

The start was slightly relaxed but Philippa Packer & Dean McAullay (Absolutely Ffabulous) drove off the line close to the committee boat end to get an early edge, however it was the boats at the pin who worked the left (inshore) side of the course that crossed in front for the first top mark turn.

No surprise as champions elect, Nick & Janet Jerwood (Ineffable) had their bows in front of another SoPYC boat, Greg Tonnision & Mark Lovelady (Spot the Difference). Alan Bax & Simon Childs (Fforever Young) led a bunch of the usual suspects in pursuit.

Tonnison & Lovelady stuck to the Jerwoods like glue to reduce the lead at the gate to a single boat length. Places were shuffling in the top ten as a number of small pressure puffs wafted down the course.

Tonnison & Lovelady attached the Jerwoods up the beat crossing tacks until they got the edge picking up a pressure shift to tack across their bows. At the top they managed to open out a 6 boat length lead on the Jerwoods. Ashley Smith & Adam Kingston from Sandgate YC in Queensland sailed well to move up to 3rd and local EBYC sailor David Swan (Swanny) & Matt Elliot with the bit between the teeth in (Phar Lap) 4th.

Down the second run the Jerwood machine closed the gap to 1 boat length at the gate and spectators expected the inevitable. However the other SoPYC pair, Tonnison & Lovelady were not going to let them have all the glory and the next upwind leg was an absorbing tacking dual with the lead changing hands several times.

The Jerwoods reaching on the final day of the Australian Flying Fifteen Championship - photo © Jonny Fullerton

Third and final time round the top mark and the Jerwoods had managed to snick in front once again. Swanny rode Phar Lap into third with the Queenslanders chasing.

The final gate rounding saw the battle close up again between the lead pair and more changes in the 3 - 8 positions. The final upwind leg was another absorbing encounter with the lead again swapping. Just when we thought the Jerwoods would add another bullet to their collection, Tonnison & Lovelady got the better of them in the closing stages to take the gun and move another place up the leaderboard in the process.

The British Flying Fifteen sailors Alan Bax & Simon Childs (HISC UK) crossed in 9th but discarded this result to maintain 2nd overall in the Open category. John Wilson & Matt Summers (Ffast Lane 4) finished 8th to just hold on to 3rd overall by a point from the rapidly improving David Yu & Chris Nelson (Tuffan Up) first boat from (RFBYC).

Ashley Smith & Adam Kingston (Ffast Lane) (QLD) finished their regatta with a 4th to squeeze into the top 10. David Swan & Matt Elliot (EFBC) sailed a solid regatta to finish 9th overall and first local boat.

Philippa Packer sailing with Dean McAullay (RFBYC) sailed a good regatta finishing 6th overall as first female skipper and 6 places in front of her husband Ron Packer back in 12th.

Rounding the top mark on the final day of the Australian Flying Fifteen Championship - photo © Jonny Fullerton

87 year old veteran Bill Shand from Victoria sailing with David Parish finished all races to finish 24th overall, not too shabby!

Karen & Russell Dawes (Eagle Eye) from SoPYC picked up the trophy for first Silver boat. (age of boat, not colour!).

So Nick & Janet Jerwood from SoPYC win their 3rd Australian National Championship title to add to their world championship and UK National winners medals. They serve notice to the visitors travelling to the Flying Fifteen World Championships in Napier, New Zealand in February.

The regatta will be remembered for sublime sailing conditions, blue skies, turquoise waters, strong breezes, waves (err ripples in Esperance) and a social programme you would want to emigrate to WA for!

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Boat Name	Helm/Crew (Club)	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Pts
1	3986	Ineffable	Nick Jerwood/Janet Jerwood(SoPYC)	1	1	1	[3]	1	2	1	[2]	7
2	4047	Fforever Young	Alan Bax/Simon Childs(UK)	3	[13]	4	2	3	1	3	[9]	16
3	3989	Ffast Lane 4	John Wilson/Matthew Summers(SoPYC)	2	3	6	5	2	3	[7]	[8]	21
4	3859	Tuffan Up	David Yu/Chris Nelson(RFBYC)	5	4	[8]	1	5	4	[5]	3	22
5	3743	Spot the Difference	Greg Tonnison/Mark Lovelady(SoPYC)	6	2	[9]	8	8	[13]	2	1	27
6	3775	Absolutely Ffabulous	Philippa Packer/Dean McAullay(RFBYC)	4	8	5	[15]	6	7	4	[10]	34
7	3992	Glamour Buoys	Greg Leaversuch/Peter Barblett(RFBYC)	[13]	[17]	2	10	4	6	11	5	38
8	3987	Ffollow Us	Tim Walker/Alan Sharpe(SoPYC)	8	5	10	4	[14]	[12]	9	6	42
9	4053	Phar Lap	David Swan/Matt Elliot(EBYC)	[42]	6	7	7	10	8	[13]	7	45
10	3972	Ffast Lane	Ashley Smith/Adam Kingston(QLD)	[12]	7	[19]	9	11	9	6	4	46
11	3982	Storyteller	Chris Paterson/Ed Repsevicius(SoPYC)	11	[16]	3	11	[12]	5	10	11	51
12	3619	Affrodisiac	Ron Packer/Steve Ward(RFBYC)	[14]	10	[14]	6	7	10	8	13	54
13	3717	All Torque	Peter Bowman/Ethan Prieto‑Low(RFBYC)	10	[42]	12	13	13	15	14	[15]	77
14	3526	Fat RRRs Over the Side	Peter Jackson/Les Kearney(VIC)	15	[20]	16	12	16	18	[22]	12	89
15	3856	Feet and Fingers	John Wallace/Stewart Wallace(EBYC)	9	21	11	14	26	11	[42]	[33]	92
16	3879	Aussie Way	Kim Peaker/Neil White(SoPYC)	[19]	18	13	[19]	18	16	12	16	93
17	3935	She Who Must Be Obeyed	John Hassen/Gene Donraadt(SoPYC)	20	9	17	[21]	15	[29]	18	19	98
18	3822	A‑Squared	Andrew Knowles/Anne Knowles(SoPYC)	7	12	42	[42]	9	14	16	[42]	100
19	3855	Fflashpoint	Peter Rooke/Martin Arrowsmith(SoPYC)	18	15	15	[26]	19	[21]	19	14	100
20	3494	Catch Me If You Can	Chris Wells/Gordon McWilliam(EBYC)	16	[23]	18	16	[22]	17	17	21	105
21	3800	Saltheart	Mark Gooding/Michael Gooding(SoPYC)	17	[24]	20	[25]	21	19	15	18	110
22	3984	Faffin	Carl Pettersson/Kristine Pettersson(SoPYC)	[31]	11	[32]	17	23	25	26	20	122
23	3964	Fforeigner	Simon Lucas/Aileen Lucas(PRSC)	21	14	23	18	[25]	23	23	[26]	122
24	4040	Forty Forty	Bill Shand/David Parish(VIC)	25	[28]	22	[27]	17	24	21	17	126
25	3878	Fast Lane II	Rob Donaldson/Ryan Norris(EBYC)	22	[33]	24	24	27	[37]	20	28	145
26	3259	Eagle Eye	Karen Dawes/Russell Dawes(SoPYC)	23	25	[33]	22	[32]	31	27	23	151
27	4010	Mr Fox	Mark Millman/Max Dobie(GYC)	27	27	27	23	[28]	[36]	25	22	151
28	3909	Tuffa Nuff	Ashley Reichstein/Tim Buckman(EBYC)	24	35	21	20	30	22	[42]	[42]	152
29	3814	Committed to Confusion	JJ Wallace/Sam Gardiner(EBYC)	26	30	28	31	20	20	[42]	[42]	155
30	3767	Bubbles	Ken Bubb/Lee Bubb(QLD)	28	26	25	28	24	26	[28]	[42]	157
31	3833	No Bull	Tim Bussemaker/Kevin Griffiths(SoPYC)	[36]	[32]	26	30	29	30	24	24	163
32	3928	Swifft	Peter Emby/David Sutcliffe(SoPYC)	29	19	[35]	32	[37]	28	32	27	167
33	3658	Hippo	David Dwyer/Brittany Nicolas(EBYC)	35	22	30	[37]	[42]	32	29	29	177
34	3475	Enuff Rope	Greg Howell/Leanne Howell(SoPYC)	30	[38]	34	33	31	[42]	30	25	183
35	3057	Ffoenix	John Lyus/Rita Nesdale(SoPYC)	32	34	31	35	[35]	27	[42]	30	189
36	3991	Ffancy Classique	John Midolo/Gordon Roe(SoPYC)	33	31	[37]	34	33	[34]	31	31	193
37	3659	Endorffine	Wim Speelman/David Hall(EBYC)	37	[37]	36	36	34	35	[42]	32	210
38	3766	The Last Won	Nils Blumann/Gary Warman(EBYC)	34	36	29	29	42	42	[42]	[42]	212
39	3931	WOW!	Michael Clark/Neil Smith(VIC)	38	29	42	[42]	36	33	[42]	34	212
40=	3910	Oui Non Peut‑etre	Jennifer Sims/Deanna Wilson(SoPYC)	42	42	42	42	42	42	[42]	[42]	252
40=	3761	ROffL	Sandy Dunn/Tim Barling(SoPYC)	42	42	42	42	42	42	[42]	[42]	252