TAS - State Championships - Day 1 Mixed conditions and tight racing

The Fleet

The Fleet getting ready for racing, Kingston Beach Tasmania, Photo: Lynn Keil

The Tasmanian B14 State Championships got underway at Kingston Beach Sailing Club today following the build up to the regatta over the last two weeks. The following two and a half hours of floating around and a large amount of frustration from PRO Peter Gore and top mark mover and shaker Chris Keil, the fleet finally got off to a start in a strengthening 15 knot Northerly, peaking at 23 Knots.

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The first start saw Nick Richardson and Lauren Keil sailing Craftsman Homes get off the line with speed leaving everyone looking around wondering what happened. Craftsman Homes had great speed in the two lap race which took the lead boat less than 15 minutes to finish, they lead the entire race. Second place went to Rocketship sailed by Beswick and LeBis and third to Chris Wells and Rani Dabner sailing Epic who just pipped the Cromarty Engineering Brother Sister, Dave and Clare combination who crossed a second later in 4^th not too far behind was the new combination of Ross Daley and Josh Phillips sailing Early Warning who got 5^th. Spectators mentioned there were a lot of white hulls visible during the first race. After finishing the majority of the fleet had a capsize before the second race. In the first lap, Steve Mitchell and his new crew Adrian Bell sailing Bondi Tram managed to come unstuck and broke their boom, this was race and possibly regatta over for them.

The second race got underway after the breeze weakened and the second front passed to 10 to 12 knots. Getting off the line a little cleaner, Rocketship managed to make good pace and headed out left. Craftsman Homes had a date with the pin end but managed to recover to the top 5 after doing their penalty turn and picking the shifts on the upwind. During the race there were mixed conditions and a number of holes in the breeze including some big shifts to gain places on the up and down wind legs. Grant Atherton and his top gun crew Dave McAully sailing Good Question managed to round in second place on the first lap following what Grant described as the fastest upwind in his B14 career after Dave showed him some of his world championship techniques with the mainsheet. Steve Miller and his crew Lauren sailing Phantom sailed a good race keeping well in the placings and after a crew swap, Ben Price and his crew, Quentin Hunt sailing The Hitcher managed to get back up the front of the fleet also. After the three laps were completed, Rocketship managed to stay clear of the fleet to secure the win from Craftsman Homes who had managed to recover from their pin end date get through to second place on the third lap. Phantom got through for third closely followed by The Hitcher in 4^th position.

Race 3 saw The Hitcher get off the line with speed and hit the right side of the course, the fleet split to either side of the course and seemingly were challenged to decide where to go in the ever increasingly shifty conditions. The Hitcher managed to round in the lead followed by Rocketship, Early Warning and Phantom in fourth, by the bottom mark Rocketship had managed to get on the tail of The Hitcher and sneak to windward. Following a tacking duel and some serious Rocketship height on the upwind, Adrian and Jono managed to round in first place, ahead of The Hitcher in second and Epic in a close third position. Further back in the fleet, Cromarty Engineering and Early Warning were fighting off a fast sailing Craftsman Homes who again were trying to make their way through the fleet after a bad work. Across the line Rocketship managed to hold onto the lead and take the win from The Hitcher and Epic. Phantom, Early Warning and Craftsman Homes rounded out the top 6.ÂÂÂ

For the final race of the day the fleet noticed that the start line had swung its bias to the boat end and this caused a traffic jam, Ryan and Rob Moreton on The Cunning Plan got off the line with clear air and capitalised on their start to hit the left hand side of the course and come back to the top mark followed by Early Warning close on their tail. Rounding next was Rocketship followed by Epic, Craftsman Homes and Cromarty Engineering.ÂÂÂ In a tussle for the next position, Good Question had the inside lane on The Hitcher who missed the start after forgetting to set their watch. Early Warning again had kite dramas. Costing them a number of positions on the downwind. At the bottom mark, The Cunning Plan dropped their kite early in preparation for a gybe out to the left side of the course once again. Rocketship came in with speed and did a gybe drop to go in the opposite direction. By the top Mark Rocketship, Epic and Craftsman Homes had held enough speed to sneak past The Cunning Plan who found out that the left doesn’t always pay. Final placings for the race were Rocketship in 1^st, Epic 2^nd and Craftsman Homes 3^rd. The Cunning Plan wasn’t far behind in 4^th and The Hitcher and Phantom in 5^th and 6^th respectively.

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Overall leading into day 2 Rocketship is in the lead on 5 points from Craftsman Homes on 12 points and Epic on 18 points. The Hitcher is in 4^th position on a count back from epic on 18 points and right on their tail in 5^th place is Phantom on 19 points. The club put on a great spread for all the sailors in the evening readying everyone for tomorrows racing. The Conditions are predicted to be 15 to 20 knots from the North West swinging to the South West during the morning.

Results Day 1