Flying Fifteen Australian Championships at Mornington Yacht Club

Flying Fifteen Australian Championships at Mornington Yacht Club - Day 4

by Jonny Fullerton 6 Jan 2018 16:04 NZDT 1-6 January 2018

Flying Fifteen Australian Championships at Mornington YC - Day 4 © Sonja Dowdle

A light day on Port Philip on the penultimate day of racing at the Flying Fifteen Australian Championship, shuffled up the pack a bit with some of the leaders suffering double digit scores. However Matt Owen and Andrew Reed (Canberra YC) have one hand on the trophy moving 16 points clear of the competition with a bad forecast for the final day of racing.

The windward/leeward courses were used to both of today's races and it was a tactical day for Craig and John Rainey from Great Lakes YC to shine. The Rainey's sailed well in the light airs to win race seven and take fourth in race eight to move up the leaderboard into third on the podium.

Flying Fifteen Australian Championships at Mornington YC - Day 4 - photo © Sonja Dowdle

The Rainey's summed up their performance: "The conditions suited our light weights, we have been coached by Ricky Riggs in the UK and he is the man who has helped us in this stuff. We started just down from the boat with clear air, and worked up to the first mark to lead the race and managed to lead everybody around the course."

The other surprise package was newcomers Stephen Fries and Richard Machin from Sandringham YC, who were observed to be sailing with quite a different technique in the light airs with crew weight well forward and slightly healed to leeward. It clearly worked as they also scored fourth and won the last race of the day.

Flying Fifteen Australian Championships at Mornington YC - Day 4 - photo © Sonja Dowdle

Overnight runaway leaders Matt Owen and Andrew Reed had a day to forget by their high standards, using up both their discards (8,12). Second placed overall, John Wilson and Matthew Summers suffered a similar experience scoring (6,12). Sue Thompson and Cameron Taylor who were going great guns suffered their worst day using both discards (11,24), allowing the Rainey's to move up to third overall.

Strong northerlies are forecast for the final day of racing so we have to wait and see if anyone can catch the flying Canberra boys.

Flying Fifteen Australian Championships at Mornington YC - Day 4 - photo © Sonja Dowdle

Results after Day 4: (8 races, 2 discards)

Pos	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Pts
1	4023	Cool Change	Matt Owen	2	1	1	2	1	1	[8]	[12]	8
2	3989	FFast	John Wilson	[12]	6	2	3	2	4	[21]	7	24
3	3880	Where the bloody hel	Craig Rainey	[9]	5	7	[20]	4	6	1	4	27
4	4007	FF	Sue Thompson	3	3	4	9	6	3	[11]	[24]	28
5	4053	Phar Lap	David Swan	6	8	3	[10]	5	5	[9]	2	29
6	3972	Sake	Ashley Smith	5	7	[11]	1	8	11	3	[36B]	35
7	3919	Fforgetful	Jeni Danks	7	[9]	6	4	[10]	9	6	3	35
8	3651	Surprise by Giver	Stephen Fries	8	4	[14]	[16]	14	8	4	1	39
9	3890	The Flying Flamingo	Lewis Davies	13	2	5	[14]	7	2	[14]	10	39
10	3968	lapse of reality	Peter Milne	[19.5]	11	10	5	3	7	5	[14]	41
11	3743	Spot The Difference	Greg Tonnison	1	[14]	[16]	11	13	13	2	6	46
12	3554	Onya!	Andrew Coutts	10	[21]	[17]	6.5	12	17	12	11	68.5
13	3611	Ten Pound Note	Trevor Williams	4	12	18	[19]	17	10	10	[19]	71
14	3979	Exbrats	Oliver Merz	21	15	8.5	6.5	[36R]	16	[22]	8	75
15	3905	Oxfactor	Michael Oxley	17	16	8.5	12	9	[36Q]	13	[20]	75.5
16	3881	Endorffin	David Streader	15	10	15	[22]	15	[19]	19	5	79
17	3854	Fflashpoint	Peter Rooke	11	[20]	13	8	18	14	[25]	15	79
18	3930	Aussie Falcon	Dale Collings	16	[17]	12	17	[22]	12	17	13	87
19	3856	Reliance ffenty ffoo	Phil Parish	14	13	[19]	13	[19]	15	18	17	90
20	3984	Faffin	Carl Pettersson	18	18	[20]	18	16	[20]	15	9	94
21	3941	Ark	Marc Read	[22]	19	[22]	15	11	18	20	21	104
22	3964	Fforeigner	Simon Lucas	[24]	22	[23]	21	20	22	7	16	108
23	3259	Eagle Eye	Karen Dawes	19.5	[25]	[25]	23	23	21	24	25	135.5
24	3657	Super Snabb	Matthew Mitchell	30	29	29	24	[32]	[36C]	16	18	146
25	3586	FFoxy 111	Julia Schwarz	28	23	[36S]	[32]	21	24	23	28	147
26	3991	Ffancy Classique	John Midolo	23	[28]	[27]	25	26	23	26	26	149
27	3710	Snaffu	Paul Young	[32]	26	21	[31]	24	27	29	23	150
28	3662	ffat Chance	Ian Robertson	28	[36R]	24	27	29	[36F]	27	22	157
29	3309	Clockwork 7	Mick Swales	[28]	24	28	28	27	25	[33]	27	159
30	3816	Flying Blind	Tom Seymour	31	[36R]	26	26	28	26	[32]	29	166
31	3238	Fidelity	Shane Davies	26	30	[31]	[33]	25	28	28	30	167
32	3262	Fast Forward	Ed Brewis	25	27	30	29	[36O]	30	[31]	31	172
33	962	Affrodite	Tim Cobb	33	[36F]	33	30	30	29	[36C]	33	188
34	3442	Lean & Mean	Doug Bell	[34]	31	32	34	31	[36F]	30	32	190
35	3931	Wow!	Michael Clark	[36F]	[36C]	34	36C	36C	36S	36C	36C	214