52nd Australian Contender Championship at Gosford Sailing Club Day 2
by Ross Hansen 18 Jan 2022 03:28 PST
17-21 January 2022
Peter Walsh race officer and QLD icon John Maclean in Kintsuji discussing pre race tactics on day 2 of the Australian International Contender Championships © Ross Hansen
Day two didn't disappoint with perfect Gosford SSE Moderate to fresh breeze building from race 3 to 4. GSC legend Race officer Peter Walsh is doing his third nationals in three weeks and has everything under control and loving the Contender camaraderie.
Boat handling was the key today with lots of capsizes and plenty of shifts to get right. The course was great, with the top mark set in Paddy's Channel and a cracking reach towards Green Point and bottom mark off Point Clare, using every inch available for a perfect course.
Matt Mulder continued his winning way with two more bullets giving him a perfect scoreline so far. Heat 4 got started in a fresh breeze but a general recall was called and the fleet was half way up the work before having to be brought back!
James Ellis (GSC) 1306 hit the 'sweet spot' early in race two but Paul Cohen, Irwin, Bulka & Mulder soon took back the lead, asserting there authority.
Overall Mark Bulka is sailing consistently with 3 seconds and is still in touch of 1st place with 6 heats to go. Old man Paul Cohen is chilling in 3rd and feels he has a lot of speed to come in the final heats. Consistent Lindsay Irwin is sitting pretty in 4th. Grant Robinson in 'Ugene' 2676 (SYC) is improving every race, sitting in 5th and eyeing a top 3.
With 20-25 knots forecast for day 3 from the south it will be real cracker Gosford southerly buster weather. Two races are planned so fingers crossed it's good.