(Sydney, Australia)- A strong turnout of sixteen J/24s were hosted by
Middle Harbour YC in a wide variety of sailing conditions for this
year's J/24 Nationals Down Under. It was very competitive. The first day was a challenging one for most of the fleet, especially interstate boats who aren’t used to the 2m swell and shifty light winds. Race 1 was convincingly won by Nev Wittey on SAILPAC who led from start to finish, closely followed by John Crawfords’ INNAMINKA, skippered by his nephew, Robert Crawford and third place went to DEATHSTAR skippered by Sean Kirkjian. Defending National champion, Sean Wallis came 4th on LUNATIC ASYLUM. Race 2 saw Neville Wittey win again, very closely followed by Sean Kirkjian with Sean Wallis only 9 seconds further back. The third race of the day was abandoned after a wind shift and was then re-run, this time seeing Sean Wallis take honours over Neville Wittey and Ace, sailed by David West coming third.
The second day started with similar wind conditions to Day 1 – flukey 15 knots easterlies, tending north for the third race of the day produced difficult helming conditions for skippers. Nev Wittey took out race 4 from Sean Kirkjian, with a convincing two and a half minute win. Robert Crawford sailing INNAMINKA came in a close third after DEATHSTAR.
Ron Thomson sailing KICKING BOTTOM had his best race of the series so far, with an impressive 4th, just 6th seconds behind INNAMINKA. Race 5 produced an exciting finish between Sean Kirkjian and David West with only 1 second separating first and second. Robert Crawford scored another third, only 10 seconds behind the winner. Peter Stevens on CODE VIOLATION had his best race so far, to finish fourth. Race 6 was a black flag start after a general recall, unfortunately seeing series leader Nev Wittey over the line, as well as MADDER N BADDER. The two Seans, Kirkjian and Wallis battled for first and second throughout the race. Simon Grain helming MAKE MY JAY finished third -their best race so far! Today’s black flag has caused major change in overall placings in the regatta with yesterdays series leader, Nev Wittey dropping back to third and Sean Kirkjian moving up the placings to first.
The third day started with similar conditions to the last 2 days and race 7 saw a fine downwind tussle between Sean Wallis on LUNATIC ASYLUM and Neville Wittey on SAILPAC on the last leg – with Sean Wallis just taking the honours by centimeters. Sean Kirkjian followed with third on DEATHSTAR. Race 8 saw a slight wind increase and some boats changing down to jibs for the first upwind leg. This time Sean Kirkjian finished first with a nice lead, after using his genoa for the whole race. SAILPAC came in 2nd again, followed by Sean Wallis in third. The top 3 boats all scored 4 points each today. It appears that the championship is between Sean Kirkjian and Neville Wittey but we will see what day 4 brings. INNAMINKA, steered by Robert Crawford, first time sailing on a J/24 took 2 fourth places today and are running 4th overall after a consistently good week.
The fourth and last day was breezier than the rest of the week, with all boats carrying jibs today! Race 9 saw Sean Kirkjian come out early and take the lead, with Sean Wallis in second and Nev Wittey in third. Race 10 saw the same result, leaving no doubt that Sean Kirkjian was the first person to win his fourth J/24 Nationals – DEATHSTAR was hard to beat this week and out of 10 races, had 5 wins.
Congratulations to all competitors for some great racing this week, and for the efforts of 5 interstate boats making the trek to Sydney. Thanks to MHYC for hosting a great regatta and for all those involved in making this event a huge success. Please also support Nicole at www.sailingimages.net – she did a great job catching all the action on camera this week. Full J/24 Australian Nationsl race results are available here. For more J/24 Australian Nationals sailing information. For more J/24 one-design sailboat information.
