57th Cherub Australian Championship at Darling Point Sailing Squadron after Day 3
by Andrew Glassock 1 Jan 2020 01:26 PST
28 December 2019 - 3 January 2020
The Cherub class has converged on Brisbane's Darling Point sailing Squadron for the 57th Cherub Australian Championship. 29 boats are contesting the racing being sailed on the waters for Waterloo Bay.
With measurement and registration out of the way on the 28th December the fleet of predominantly NSW based skiffs hit the water to contest the invitation race. A 10 -12 knot south easterly greeted the fleet and there was close racing with 3189 Hooligan Beynon Telford and Morgan York leading up to the finish line, peeled off and did not cross the line preferring a DNF than risk the "win the invitation race and you wont win the championship" myth coming true. This left 3183 After Dark Emma Harrison and Brendan Jenkins to take the win with 3190 Gold Digger Brett and Ryan Lancaster 2nd and 3169 New Order Andrew and Dave Stewart third.
The 29th of December again saw blues skies and white clouds, something the NSW contingent have not experienced for a few weeks. With similar breeze to the previous days racing, 3189 Hooligan taking up from where they left off in the Invitation Race took the win in Race 1, 3152 Enough Rope Nicole Barnes and James Walters took line honours in race two.
The second day of racing was a carbon copy of day one with 10-12 may be 15 knots from the south east once the breeze settles and the AP flag was dropped. Race 3 saw another winner with 3183 After Dark taking the gun and Emma Harrison leading a girl power assault on the top four places, local boat 3153 The Tradie had former Australian Champion Alison Chapman on the tiller followed by 3152 Enough Rope Nicoles Barnes and 3187 Squealer Jessica Swadling fourth, the top four places filled by female helms highlighting the strength of female sailors in the class. Race 4 again saw 3189 Hooligan cross first from daughter and father combo Maddie and Ben Lavis in 3179 Between the Sheets and 3183 After Dark rounded out the top three.
Races 5 and 6 were sailed New Year's Eve, Heat 5 saw former Australian Champion and dad Trevor Fay in 3171 Son of Wally with Nigel Blatchford take the win and just edge out son and current Australian Champion Kris Fay and Matt Hall in 3181 Schmicky Shmootin with fellow Belmont boat 3190 Gold Digger Brett and Ryan Lancaster making it a Belmont 1,2,3. Race 6 saw the After Dark team recover from a swim up the first work to take the win with 3181 Schmicky Shmootin 2nd and 3152 Enough Rope third.
Results after Day 3: (top three, 6 races, no discards)
1st 183 After Dark - Emma Harrison and Brendan Jenkins - 14pts
2nd 3189 Hooligan Beynon Telford and Morgan York - 22pts
3rd 3152 Enough Rope - Nicole Barnes and James Walters - 25pts
Full results are available at sailingresults.com.au
Some of the action on the water is being live streamed via the classes Facebook page.
Three more races are scheduled to complete the 57th Cherub Australian Championship with 2 short races on Thursday 2nd and 1 long race on Friday 3rd January.
The Cherub class would like to thank the Darling Point Sailing Squadron and all its volunteer supporters for their hard work that goes into running a National Championship Regatta.