Racing Day 4 – Bohaul Express Australian B14 National Championships – Perth Dinghy SC – 5/01/2011

The B14 Association had its AGM for the year today to discuss the latest and greatest things that have been going on around the country. Big News items included an introduction to the national titles venue in Tasmania next new year and a technical discussion on where things are at with changes the class has undergone and might look into. Also there has been a change to the guard for the National executive including Guy Bancroft Stepping down as Australian President and Sophie Hunt stepping down from her Secretary/Treasurer role. Taking over will be Adrian Beswick as incoming President and Daniel Watson as incoming Secretary/Treasurer. Both in their 20’s and very passionate about the class association and its development it will be great to see where things might end up in the coming years.

Day four of the national titles was looking to be a moderate but gusty North West breeze. Sailing around from the club it became apparent that the fleet was going to be expecting quite a bit more wind than first thought. Forecast at 13-18 knots the breeze throughout the afternoon was pushing 25knots at times.

The 7^th race of the series got underway in solid wind, with most of the fleet getting off the line with reasonable pace. The fleet split slightly right and left and as the first work in another new breeze for the fleet it became obvious that the boats out left were doing well and held better boat speed than those who went right and tried to play the more shifty pressure. 

By the first bottom mark OMFTB (Bancroft/Grace) lead from Siren (Darlow/McDonald). Wing it (Patterson/Vickery) rounded in 3^rd position after strategically getting away from the log jam at the port gate mark to head left.

At the top mark, Wing It had got through both Siren and OMFTB to get into the lead! OMFTB rounded in 2^nd position with Siren in 3^rd. Up the same work Strait4devils also closed the gap on the second bunch within range of a top three finish and by the bottom mark carried a winner down the course to get inside Clean Skin (Boyle/ Van Galen) and hit the left.

By the top mark of the third and final lap Strait4devils got through the bunch and into 3^rd position, just in front of Hunt leather (Hunt/Payne) in 4^th. On the downwind Hunt leather took a dip left whilst Strait4devils stayed right, a move that would keep them out of trouble. Siren fell back through the fleet after trying the right side of the course.

Wing it took the win from OMFTB and Strait4devils got through for a 3^rd position. Hunt Leather scraped through for 4^th with Siren Coming through after a bad last lap in 5^th position.  Clean Skin held off the Octopussy combination (Webster/Webster) to get 6^th position.

In between the 7^th and 8^th race the winner of the first heat, Wing It had rudder problems and whilst attempting to fix them managed to capsize and loose the rudder pin altogether. This meant another retirement for Wing It and after a heat win it was sad to see.

Race 8 got underway in stronger breeze than the first race of the day.  Just before and after the start there were two collisions that took out Toxic (Raynes/Raynes) with Phantom (Miller/Keil) who both retired from the race after missing the start by more than 5 minutes. Hunt Leather also managed to put a wing into the back of B Sting (Watson/ Roper) to take out the Giant of the class.

OMFTB got off the line strong with Strait4devils on their hip; Siren also got going with speed and Octopussy was in a good position also. 

Siren rounded in first position from OMFTB with Strait4devils in 3^rd and Octopussy right behind them in 4^th. By the bottom mark OMFTB managed to come through with speed and pass Siren before heading off on the second lap. After a mighty fast second gybe Strait4devils got inside Octopussy at the bottom mark and came around with speed heading left.

Carrying great height, Strait4devils was nipping on the heels of Siren who came out on a bad angle and lost speed through their first tack. By the top mark Siren had pulled away again to a comfortable gap between 2^nd and 3^rd.

Down the next run, Octopussy got their own back by rounding right gate and heading left, this move combined with a bad drop on Strait4devils gave them a handy gap leading into the last lap. Strait4devils went out right on a flyer to try and gain some time back but it didn’t pay off. At the top mark OMFTB rounded ahead of Siren and Octopussy with Strait4devils rounding in 4^th position.

Across the line OMFTB kept their lead to take the win from Siren and Octopussy and Strait4devils in 3^rd and 4^th. It was three and a half minutes before 5^th position got across the line with The Nude taking it out, followed by Hunt Leather in 6^th.

The PRO Start boat crew were hard at work on day 4

The final days racing will be interesting with only 1 point separating 3^rd and 4^th position. With a sea breeze forecast to roll up the river it will continue to suit the heavy weather crews as has the rest of the regatta.

Keep posted for the final results.

http://www.sportspage.com.au/yacht_clubs/pdsc/b14/progresultspage.htm