ACT's Scott Condie defended his Australian Marblehead Championship in testing conditions at Montrose Bay in Hobart.
Winds were light and variable on the course today with a total of only four races completed in the morning. Condie put the title beyond doubt with two heat wins and a second place this morning. Greg Torpy from Queensland was possibly the only competitor who might have caught the leader, but his run was stifled by Scott's performance.
Filling the podium was Victoria's Andrew Reid, who finished twelve points adrift of Torpy. All three boats on the podium were Grunge designs, and these three skippers won the majority of heats.
The top placed local skipper was Kyle Stewart, who sailed his home-built Indie into fifth position. Kyle's performance was particularly notable since he had just spent the previous four days acting as the Race Officer for the IOM class, and the three days before that competing in the A Class. Kyle will be ready for a rest after all this finishes!
Other skippers to record heat wins over the course of the regatta were John Cole-Cook, Brett Osborn and Lisa Blackwood.
The ARYA recognises our senior skippers with the awarding of Masters and Grand Masters Championship trophies. Our winners in these categories were Mark Newman (ACT) in the Masters and Ray Joyce (TAS) in the Grand Masters. Interestingly, both sailing Grunge designs. In fact, there were seven Grunges in the fleet and they all finished in the top nine positions. The other two in the top nine were Indie designs.
Thanks must go to Stuart Dawes who worked tirelessly as our Race Officer. Thank you Stuart and all your team for contributing your time, energy and effort into making this event a really happy and enjoyable one.