2019 SB20 Australian Championship in Hobart - Day 2
by Jane Austin 2 Nov 2019 05:10 PDT
1-3 November 2019
Michael Cooper (Export Roo) has climbed back to the top of the leader board after the completion of seven races in the 2019 SB20 Australian Championship in Hobart. Cooper is in first place on 16 points from Ollie Nicholas (2Unlimited) on 23 points, Brett Cooper (Aeolus) on 26 points and Elliott Noye (Porco Rosso) 29 points.
In contrast to the first blustery day, the fleet didn't see more than nine knots of breeze, however the boats that picked the wind shifts and pressure again did well. Race Four started in 3 to 4 knots of SSE breeze, but as the fleet got to the top mark, the breeze clocked around to the east, so the Race Committee adjusted the course.
Porco Rosso, boat of the day with two wins, started Race Two at the pin end of the line and went to some light pressure on the eastern side of the course, eventually winning the race with a large gap to the second boat, Pinch (Frazer Read) and Nick Rogers (Karabos) in third. Porco Rosso skipper, Elliott Noye was happy with his team's performance today.
"We won the first and last race of the day and had two tough races on a day of shifty breezes, varying up to 70 degrees. Getting downwind today was super tricky, especially in the light breeze. In the last race, Stew [Gray] made a great call going downwind to head to the left mark and out to the pressure on the right-hand side of the course. We had good boat speed heading upwind, got around the top mark first and just extended our lead from there," said Noye.
David Chapman, tactician on Export Roo and 2019 SB20 Worlds bronze medal holder, is looking to another consistent day tomorrow as they defend their Australian title. "It was a very tricky day today, but tomorrow we plan to be in the top five for every race. We got off the line a lot better today which was helpful in the lighter airs and enabled us to pick where we wanted to go," said Chapman.
Ollie Nicholas (2Unlimited) is looking forward to more close racing on the final day of the series. "The conditions will be very light and variable - there are seven or eight boats that could finish on the podium, so it will be a good day for some and not for others" said Nicholas.
One of the up and coming sailors on the racecourse was Charlie Goodfellow, skipper of the all youth team, Obi Kenobi. Goodfellow, sailing with Jack Allison and sisters Jorja and Indy Cooper, a crew with an average age of 15 years, has come up through the International Cadet Class and 29ers, and was keen to learn from and challenge the championship fleet. "We just try to keep up with them and give it our best shot. We have been trying to spend more time in the boat getting comfortable with it, then pushing the older guys to see how we go. We are here with nothing to lose - so we can risk it a bit more and just find that gap and go for it," said Goodfellow.
The Championship hasn't drawn enough entries for a Women's Division this year, but Cook Your Own Dinner skipper, Jill Abel, is pleased with how her team is travelling considering it's her first regatta as skipper for a while and they are racing a new boat. "We went out today pretty happy that we had survived yesterday's big breeze. We had a great first race where we came fifth, but the next race we had a poor start, and it's hard to get back into the race in that fleet. We didn't really change gears well enough or pick the shifts well enough. So tomorrow, we need to make our own calls and not get caught up in what everyone else is doing, which is sometimes hard especially when the good guys go two different ways on the course," said Abel.
The Australian Championship will be decided on Sunday with three races scheduled. The forecast is for variable winds about 10 knots becoming north to north westerly 10 to 15 knots in the morning then turning west to north-westerly, 10 to 20 knots in the middle of the day.
Results can be found here.