12 Competitors attended the A Class Australian national titles regatta held on Lake Illawarra over 3 days. The weather was kind to all with warm and sunny conditions and fresh to strong winds making for exciting and at times challenging sailing.
Monday was a practise day with 8 races being conducted in a strong easterly breeze with gusts at times reaching 20+ Knots. This allowed the participants to try different sail combinations to find the best for the heavier than usual conditions.
LIST OF COMPETITORS
ANDERSON Peter NSW 10 KoBSC Fuse
ARLAND Tim SA 26 SARYC Sword
BLACKWOOD Lisa TAS 35 RBRYC Blister
DILL Brian NSW 39 IRYC Sword
GRANT Barry NSW 20 KoBSC Fuse
HINCHCLIFF Laurie NSW 37 KoBSC Gunboat
HYMAN Ralph NSW 29 KoBSC UFO Mk2
MARSHALL Rod VIC 81 MBYC Blister Mk3
MOLL David NSW 28 IRYC UFO Mk2
ROBERTSON Terrence TAS 135 PLRMYC Spear
STEWART Kyle TAS 59 RBRYC Blister IV
WEIZMAN Daniel NSW 88 SMMC Sword
Thanks to the PRO for the event, Wayne Keavy, who did a fantastic job in conducting and controlling the sailing on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The course setting and rescue boat duties were very capably handled by Jon Pinkerton, Thank you Jon.
Thanks also go to Michael Grant for assisting in recording the finishes on Tuesday.
Tuesday saw the breeze swing further to the North East and strengthen throughout the day with gusts almost reaching 30 knots at times.
6 races were completed prior to the lunch break when our guests were served with some tasty food prepared by club volunteers and their much appreciated wives. Special thanks to Barbara and Richard Hipsley.
A further 7 races were completed on Tuesday afternoon. The increasing wind strength and wave build up created spectacular sailing particularly downwind, with boats often surfing the waves.
Wednesday saw a shift in the wind direction to the South. The wind strength early on was 20+ knots until a slight shift to the South East which also settled the wind to a more manageable 15 to 20 knots. With the longer fetch across the lake, the waves still remained quite large, so once again very exciting sailing. 8 races were completed in the morning session and a further 7 were completed in the afternoon session. A total of 28 races for the event.
Two of our interstate visitors proving to be too good for our local sailors and congratulations go to the winner, Lisa Blackwood for a very well sailed regatta. Close in second place was Tim Arland. Third place went to local club member Brian Dill.
Winners are grinners.
L-R Brian Dill 3Rd . Lisa Blackwood 1St . Tim Arland 2Nd .
Thank you to all competitors and volunteers for a most successful regatta.