International 14ft Victorian State Championships at Metung Yacht Club
by Daniel Vaughan 14 Mar 2019 00:06 NZDT
9-11 March 2019
Day 1 - International 14ft Skiff State Championships © Metung Yacht Club
A fleet of 15 International 14's ventured down to the quiet town of Metung on the Gippsland Lakes for their State titles, the flat and relatively small stretch of water provides fast and intense racing.
Day 1 saw lots of excitement with three races scheduled, the predicted 10 knots quickly built to 18 knots by the start and caught a few competitors out in their setup.
The top of the course had stronger gusts up to 22knots which made for some thrilling bear-aways and a few boats ended up digging the nose in and cart-wheeling.
The racing was very tight with the top five boats all in close proximity, Mark Krstic and James Lanati in their newly built hollom hull took the first race from Lindsay Irwin and Andrew Perry in second and Scott Cunningham and Dave Parker in third.
Race two was once again very close racing and the shifty conditions allowed for a number of passing lanes with Scott Cunningham and Dave Parker coming out on top with a great start and first lap holding out Mark Krstic and James Lanati in second and Ben Strong and Daniel Farthing in third.
The wind had taken its toll on a few competitors for Race three with a couple of breakages and quite a few impressive tip overs, once again Scott Cunningham and Dave Parker showed the heavy weather skills making fewer mistakes and taking the win from Lindsay Irwin and Andrew Perry in second and Anthony Anderson and Daniel Vaughan in third.
The smoke from the local bushfires was thick in the air on Day 2 with racing cancelled due to lack of wind.
Day three the final day of racing, once again saw very little wind. The teams held out on shore waiting for some breeze to come in, but unfortunately the wind gods weren't kind and racing was again cancelled. The overall placings finishing as they did on Day 1 with Scott Cunningham and Dave Parker finishing first overall, Lindsay Irwin and Andrew Perry in second and Mark Krstic and James Lanati in third.