The Australian Nationals planned for Woollahra Sailing Club have been cancelled, due to the uncertainty surrounding the event caused by COVID-19. Potential last minute lockdown and travel restrictions make it too hard for participants and organisers to plan. However, some B14ers are looking at some informal sailing during the week of January 3-7 with whomever can make it to Sydney.

At this stage we would be looking at returning to Sydney in January 2022 for the Nationals. The Worlds in Lake Garda are still scheduled for 4th – 14th July 2022 at Circolo Torbole.

 

PHAEDRUS B14 VICTORIAN STATE CHAMPIONSHIP GARMSTON AND CHAPMAN DOMINATE!

 

     The Phaedrus B14 Victorian Championship was held on the long weekend of March 7th to 9th at Sandringham Yacht Club. 

The regatta would end up being the penultimate event for the season, with public events prohibited within 2 weeks due to the COVID 19 outbreak. All sailing was banned at all levels due to the virus outbreak. It would be 5 days later the Australian Grand  Prix was cancelled by the government.

    Hosted by Sandringham Yacht Club the event was run surperbly by the race committee and in conjunction with I14 and Musto skiffs. The sailing conditions for the weekend were the best for the season offering something for everyone. Saturday provided a 15-20 knot wind from the south west with a large swell generated from the south end of Port Philip Bay.

These conditions made everyone work hard to maintain their boats upright. Garmston and Chapman won both races, with Bancroft and Grace claiming 2nd twice. On arrival on the Sunday the fleet were greeted by 25+ knot southerly and were held on shore. A lot of bodies were already aching form the Saturday, however after a half hour delay the race committee decided to start. With the wind constantly around the 24knot wind range the committee wisely only ran 2 of the 3 races which were planned for the Sunday. As they could see the fleet getting tired with plenty of capsizes through the fleet. The 2 races were split between Garmston/Chapman and Bancroft/Grace, Loutit and Briggs managed a 2nd were a clear 3rd overall.

On the Monday surely we were going to get a light day. Monday arrived and it was already white capping, it was looking like another hard day at the office. Pleasantly the breeze abated slightly to be a consistent 12-15knot southerly which the whole fleet enjoyed. This would be the final sailing day for the B14 fleet in Victoria and they had 3 races to finish off the 7 race series. It was good to see Freya Vickery back steering as well as Grace Lazaar who was excellent in steering in her 1st regatta at the helm of a B14.

 

FINAL RESULTS    at  syc.com.au

1/ Craig Garmston and Louis Chapmam  6 points

2/ Guy Bancroft and Dave Grace     11 points

3/ Dave Loutit and Hugo Briggs        22 points

4/ Ewan Campbell and Tori Campbell   28 points

5/ Glenn Lazzar and Grace Lazzar    31 points

6/ Ron Kane and Jason Dunsmore/ J. Randall    32 points

7/ Freya Vickery and Linden Kruss      45 points

 

B14 contestants and supporters a waiting on shore day 2 at SYC

The final leg of the B14 NSW State Titles was held at Woollahra Sailing Club on 15th March, just before COVID-19 started shutting down pubs and clubs in Australia.

Heading for shelter!!

Electrifying performances at the Australian Nationals at Illawarra Yacht Club

When you only have to drop seconds, you know you’ve had a great regatta.

Craig Garmston and Paul Flemming in Snatch won 6 out of 10 races at the B14 Australian Titles at Illawarra Yacht Club in January.

But that wasn’t the only electrifying performance of the regatta.

A massive thunder storm, much needed given the devastating bushfires this summer, sent the fleet scurrying for shore on Day 4. Everyone got home safely, despite some really weird wind on the way back, including huge gusts then nothing. Great pics from Jasmine Young capture the moment!

Garmo and Paul Flemming sailed incredibly consistently to win, but they were kept honest by Brent Frankcombe and Leigh Dunstan in Where’s My Box. The guys racked up three wins, one cracked head (Leigh’s) and a broken mast and did enough to stay ahead of multiple world and Nats title holders Guy Bancroft and David Grace in Bonewerk. Full results are attached.

Winning style on Snatch

Handicap winners were Ewan and Tori Campbell sailing in Bluey, who improved throughout the series and did better when it blew.

Other notable performances were from Glenn Cardwell and 16-year-old Audrey Schue from the host club Illawarra Yacht Club and returnees to the class Sophie Hunt and Andy Payne, who have still “got it” after a spot of Parental Leave. Audrey was one of 12 sailors aged under 25 boosting the fleet. It was great to have such an injection of young talent into the class.

And of course the 7 women in the fleet rounded out the regatta with the traditional champagne in the showers. For some the first step in preparing for the regatta was to buy a bottle of bubbly.

Smoky conditions due to bushfires
Attachments:
Download this file (Screenshot_2020-01-17 Sailwave results for B14 Australian Championships 2019 20 at IYC 2020.png)B14 Australian Championships 2019-20 at IYC[Final results]72 kB