Monjon J24 Nationals at Sandringham Yacht Club - Overall
by Simon Grain 8 Jan 2018 06:24 PST
5-8 January 2018
When the action gets busy, Luis was there – great shot © Luis Ferreiro
Congratulations to Hugo Ottaway and his crew, Pauliina Mattila, Gareth Evans, James Tarode and Megan Aulich sailing 'Bruschetta VI', the new National J24 Class Champions for 2018 by three points from Simon Grain in 'Jet' and Steve Wright in 'Tinto' in third.
Day four was a battle for first between Hugo and Simon right to the very end, with both finishing the last race in the same order as they finished the regatta. Hyperactive and Vice Versa both finished on 58 points for fourth and fifth respectively an indication of the close racing throughout the regatta.
The last day started slowly with a 12-15 knot southerly, cloudy skies and much cooler temperatures (to everyones relief after the very draining 42 degree Saturday). With a shifty wind, a couple of generals and an exemplary attitude from the race committee, after one and a half hours and seven start sequences we finally got away. Jordan skippering the Sandy Youth boat 'Sidetracked' had an absolute blinder of a race finishing out front only to suffer the pain of finding he was OCS on a black flag race.
Steve Wright in 'Tinto' took the gun, with 'Jet' just pipping 'Bruschetta VI' right on the line. Race 12 had 'Bruschetta VI' taking out the race from 'Jet' and Kirsty Harris in 'Hyperactive'.
In the very popular Thommo Cup, once again Ron took the honours from Jeanette 7 – 5. Although he tells me he got a real scare in the middle of the regatta when it was 4 all !
There are stories too many to mention from the fleet. The standard of racing is awesome, it dosn't matter where in the fleet, from front to back the competition is full on. And everyone is loving it.
Our Sandy Race Management Team did a fantastic job in sometimes trying conditions. I heard no grumbles, only praise for their very professional work.
A comment from Peter Edwards from Cronulla regarding the Race Committee, "For the next three days I got to experience the most proficient organised and skilled Race Committee I have ever been involved with. From the top Graeme Watt and Peter Taylor empower all their team with a cool calm and sense of importance that make you proud to be involved with them.
My thanks go to all the team for allowing me to be part of your team. Sandringham Race Committee are as good as it gets if not better and I had so much enjoyment in being part of it, I really didn't want to leave".
(We know it but it is nice to hear it from outside – well done Wattie and team – a huge thank you on behalf of all the competitors and the Vic and National class committees)
The Vic Association did a fantastic job organising the regatta. President John Neville and the committee put in huge hours, effort and energy into making this Nationals one of the best anyone can remember – many people told me that.
The presentation was held in the Sandy Harbourview restaurant, another very successful evening with El Presidente, master MC and funnyman John Neville, lamenting that the regatta had not ended when he was winning but doing a sterling job presenting trophies, cracking jokes and keeping us all in laughter.
So at the end of it all – here is the money shot!
Watch Craig Wileys great race start videos