52nd Australian Contender Championship at Gosford Sailing Club - Day 3
by Ross Hansen 19 Jan 02:37 PST
17-21 January 2022
As predicted a fresh southerly was on the order today. 10-25 knots SSE and very gusty meaning most boats had many capsizes. A few boats retired with gear failure.
Both races on time and mostly clean starts. Again the start was off Point Clare and top mark Saratoga then a reach to Green Point and Point Clare.
Mark Bulka 2457 'Balance' made his move in the blustery conditions and got two much needed bullets in the chase for the title. Paul Cohen 'Encore' 2270 made a great comeback to steel 2nd in the first race and ahead of Matt Mulder 2434 'Socially Distant' in 3rd but Matt is still leading the title race by just two points over Bulka. The pair had a nail biting thrilling finish in the final race only six seconds separating the two champions.
Other good results was Sam Ellis 'Respite' 2669 finally getting some good scores with a fifth and third and actually lead around the first mark like his Dad did the day before. Besides the race 5 OCS, Joey Randall 'Knotasha' 2575 had an amazing race 6 and got a fourth easily his best result, obviously a heavy wind specialist. Besides Paul Cohen in third and Lindsay Irwin in fourth the rest better make a move quick if they are wanting a podium spot as only four races to go and gap is getting bigger.
Again tomorrow is forecast SE 15-18 knots for heat 7 and 8 and everyone is loving the club organisation. The who's who of Gosford Sailing Club past champions are out on the support boats and making this a great regatta so far. The support everyone is getting is next level great effort everyone.
Results after Day 3: (top seven, 6 heats)
1st M Mulder 1,1,1,1,(3),2, 6pts
2nd M Bulka (4) 2,2,2,1,1, 8pts
3rd P Cohen 2,5,3,5,2?(7), 17pts
4th L Irwin 3,4,8,3,3,(25), 21pts
5th G Robinson 7,8,4,4,7(10), 30pts
6th S Reid 5,9,6,7,8,(19), 35pts
7th J Owen 8,3,9,10(12),6, 36pts