Australian A-Cat National Championships at South Lake Macquarie Amateur Sailing Club - Day 3

by Gordon Upton 10 Jan 17:46 PST 6-11 January 2024

Day three, out on the lake, was when the place finally delivered what the locals were used to. The Australian A-Cat Nationals saw Easterly breezes, at about 13-14 knots and, coupled with a blue sky arriving on cue, it was Aussie Sparkling Wine sailing at last.

Coming into the day, the Race Officer had already achieved a championship, with 6 races completed. He was by now, nicely on track to complete a full series of 12 races, where the much desired second discards would arrive.

The Classic fleet, the 'Lowriders' or non-foiling boats were currently led by Bruce Woodward, current World Champion and former Olympian Scott Andersen and Chris Cairns, with another Multiple champion and Olympic medallist, Andrew Landenberger snapping at their heels like one of his cattle dogs with only a few point separating them. Over on the Open foiling fleet, things were a little more clear cut.

Local hero Adam Beattie was sweeping all before him in a stunning display of speed out on the course. US guest sailor, the 2022 Class World Champ, Ravi Parent, was chasing valiantly in the series, but to no avail. In third was the multiple World champion, Olympic Medallist and America's Cup sailor, Darren Bundock. Another local lad, multiple class World Champ, Stevie Brewin was a close 4th, such is the strength of this fleet.

The racing started at 2pm with the now established pattern of the Open fleet, of some 20 boats, off first. They had a different set of to marks, about 300m upwind of the Classics marks.

The course, in this wind, tends to be rather 'Gardalike'. Up one way, and back down the same was as you went up. In this case, it is stay on the left side, gat a bit of a lift as the wind bends around a promontory, and across to the top gate marks. Go through that and choose the left mark to retrace your steps. Simple. Just stop on the dry side and you are sorted.

The first race went to the usual playbook of these championships. Bundy started well and fast. His steady, stable and effortless style makes him very fast uphill. He was chased around the top mark by Ravi and Adam. However, Adam then seems to deploy his new found superpower, Ravi does whatever Ravi does and at the bottom, it's Ravi, in close quarters with Adam. The rest of the fleet enjoy the battle for the remainder. These were all 2 lap races today, so their next lap was just from the top mark down to the finish. Adam won, Stevie had worked his way up to 2nd and Bundy in 3rd.

Such was the consistency of the wind, their second race ran along the same lines. Again, Adam arrived in the lead about the start of lap 2 and held it. Bundy turned up 2nd with Ravi in 3rd.

Race 3 got the only general recall of the event. In the media boat we could hear the race committee saying that it was about to be a general, as a whole bunch were really keen to start, but got ahead of themselves. Two horns, and the flag went up. Little secret here - now, for a Sailing Photographer these are the best thing you could hope for! It's like free photos! The fleet takes a while to realise, so, many are still in full on race mode when you can just blast across ahead of them all, getting close head on racing shots from the 'wrong side'. And no-one can tell the shot was from a false start! We should have more.

On the restart, it looked to be the same race pattern again, only young Ravi had different ideas. At the finish, he was neck and neck with Adam, both full foiling flat out downwind to the line, and doing over 30 knots. They'd both need a gybe at to get across the line, as a wind shift had made their angles change. Ravi had the leeward line, but Adam was slightly ahead. 20m separation they blasted down. 50m from the line, both came in off the wire and performed perfectly synchronised gybes, but the lower track gave Ravi the 20m he needed to keep Adam out at the line. Bundy was next ahead of Matt Holman, who beat Brad Collett. Next cam Stevie Brewin. Blasting down to the line, as the others did, he the seemed to perform as sort of screeching right rolling turn at his gybe point, in the manner of an aircraft. We all though he had got away with it, but as the port hull dropped, the sail flicked over taking the boat, and the three-time World Champ with it. However, such was the gap between him and the next sailor, that he'd got it back up before losing a place.

The Classic sailors had no less fun. These boats are a delight to sail in these conditions. They usually end up in little bunches of boats all battling each other in a series of mini races. Quite a few mid fleet racers are usually only separated by one or two points, making each victory sweeter. The conditions were not too much for anyone, but enough to make it exciting and any mistake got punished, but I don't recall seeing a single retirement all day. I mean, why would you want it to stop. The front fleet battle was between the two of the Classic Titans in the class. Scotty Anderson and Landy have been battling for decades. It most recently culminated last year in Toulon at the World Championships, where Scotty became Champion for the second time again after his last title back in 1986. Today, Landy won their battles with 2 wins to one, but he still trails on points after a bad first day. Richie Howells had a good consistent day, with 3 thirds, but remains in 4th as Bruce Woodward clings onto 3rd, 3 points ahead.

Today was a silly grin day. Everyone was happy to simply have been out racing in those conditions and in this venue. Tomorrow they get 2 races in similar conditions, if not a few knots more breeze too, and a final one Friday.

Results after Day 3:

Pos	Sail No	Skipper	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	Pts
Classic Fleet
1	AUS31	Scott Anderson	Saratoga SC	1	1	1	1	‑2	‑23	1	2	2	1	1	11
2	AUS965	Richard Howells	St Leonards YC&MS	2	‑8	‑10	7	4	5	3	3	3	3	2	32
3	AUS90	Bruce Woodward	Hervey Bay SC	3	3	3	2	‑11	4	5	8	4	2	‑9	34
4	AUS308	Andrew Landenberger	Big River SC	13	2	17	3	1	2	2	1	1	(DNS)	(DNC)	42
5	AUS958	David Mckenzie	Colac YC	4	6	6	5	9	3	(RET)	(DNF)	7	4	3	47
6	AUS49	Matt Johnson	Merricks YC	‑19	5	‑14	4	14	1	4	4	6	5	7	50
7	AUS101	Chris Cairns	Saratoga SC	5	9	2	6	3	6	‑12	9	‑12	10	5	55
8	AUS11	Wayne Mercer	Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron	‑14	‑13	4	10	10	8	6	12	11	7	6	74
9	AUS9	John Dowling	Moreton Bay Boat Club	12	7	7	‑13	6	10	‑24	7	13	9	4	75
10	AUS99	Mark Capel	Lake Cootharaba SC	7	‑15	9	9	8	‑12	10	6	9	6	11	75
11	AUS987	Paul Neeskens	Hervey Bay SC	‑15	10	11	‑12	5	9	7	10	10	12	10	84
12	AUS960	Neil Caldwell	Lake Cootharaba SC	‑16	4	16	11	‑21	7	9	14	8	11	8	88
13	AUS27	William Michie	RRS&RC	9	12	‑13	‑15	13	13	8	5	5	13	12	90
14	AUS28	PAUL ADAMS	TANILBA BAY SC	17	14	5	‑18	7	‑18	14	16	16	14	17	120
15	AUS8	Graeme Harbour	Mc Crae YC	(DNS)	(DNS)	DNC	8	12	14	11	17	22	8	13	133
16	AUS1074	Dominic Tanner	Speers Point ASC	18	11	18	‑24	22	11	15	11	15	19	(DNF)	140
17	AUS936	Dave Richardson	Bendigo YC	11	22	8	16	16	19	22	‑23	‑24	17	15	146
18	AUS913	Jon Goodall	Stawell YC	8	17	19	‑21	20	17	16	‑22	21	16	19	153
19	AUS1011	Richard Nicholson	McCrae YC	23	16	‑24	17	‑24	16	13	15	18	15	20	153
20	AUS95	Robert Griffits	Lake Macquarie YC	25	(DNF)	(DNC)	14	15	15	20	19	14	18	16	156
21	AUS953	David Gahan	Saratoga SC	21	20	12	‑25	19	20	‑25	13	17	22	14	158
22	AUS40	Michael Kopp	McCrae YC	10	18	22	19	17	22	19	18	19	‑25	‑23	164
23	AUS933	Brian Cole	Elwood SC	6	21	15	23	18	(DNF)	21	21	23	‑24	18	166
24	AUS939	Stephen Dyble	Port Macdonnell SC	‑22	19	20	22	‑23	21	17	20	20	20	22	181
25	AUS48	Ian Johnson	Merricks YC	20	24	23	(DNC)	(DNS)	DNC	23	25	26	21	21	211
26	AUS1008	Paul Delaney	Speers Point ASC	26	23	21	20	25	(DNF)	26	24	25	(DNC)	DNC	218
27	AUS24	Nick Flint	CYC	24	(DNF)	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	18	DNC	DNC	23	DNC	233
Open Fleet
1	AUS14	Adam Beattie		1	‑2	1	1	1	‑2	1	1	2	1	1	10
2	USA76	Ravi Parent	New York Yacht Club	‑5	1	3	2	2	1	‑4	3	1	2	2	17
3	AUS88	Darren Bundock	TSC	‑4	3	2	‑4	4	4	3	2	3	3	3	27
4	AUS 41	Matt Homan	Royal QLD YS	2	(DNF)	4	3	‑5	3	5	5	4	4	4	34
5	AUS4	Steven Brewin	Kurnell Cat Club	3	4	‑8	5	3	5	2	4	‑6	6	5	37
6	AUS1087	Stuart Scott	Safety Beach SC	7	8	5	6	6	6	(DNF)	‑12	11	5	7	61
7	AUS10	Brad Collett	Lake Cootharaba SC	12	5	7	8	10	7	6	6	5	(DNF)	(DNC)	66
8	AUS1065	Jake Liddell	CYCA	6	7	6	7	‑9	‑9	9	7	8	7	9	66
9	AUS20	David Brewer	Safety Beach S.C	8	11	(DNF)	(DNF)	8	8	8	9	9	8	6	75
10	AUS7	Hamish Sinclair	McCrae YC	‑16	9	10	9	11	‑13	10	10	10	9	8	86
11	AUS44	Simon McKeon	McCrae YC	‑14	‑15	11	10	7	11	12	13	14	11	11	100
12	AUS22	Joseph Randall	McCrae YC	10	6	(DNF)	(DNF)	DNS	12	7	8	7	14	DNF	106
13	USA37	Michael Christensen	Saratosa Sailing Club	11	12	9	12	12	10	14	11	(DNC)	(DNC)	DNC	112
14	AUS64	Jarrod Spencer	SPASC	9	‑14	14	11	14	‑16	13	14	12	13	14	114
15	AUS1055	Ron Scherwinski	McCrae YC	17	10	12	15	17	14	11	16	13	(DNF)	(DNC)	125
16	AUS110	Mark Griffith	rpayc	‑18	16	13	13	13	15	15	15	‑17	15	12	127
17	AUS15	Brad Wicht		15	‑18	(DNC)	14	16	17	16	17	15	17	13	140
18	AYS57	Paul Raymond	Nedlands Yacht Club	13	13	15	(DNC)	(DNC)	DNF	DNC	DNS	18	12	10	144
19	AUS100	Simon Nelson	Mannering Park ASC	19	17	16	(DNS)	15	(DNF)	DNF	DNC	16	16	DNC	162
20	AUS16	Ian Hoffman	Speers Point ASC	(DNC)	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	10	DNF	178