(Sydney, Australia)- A strong turnout of sixteen J/24s are being hosted
by Middle Harbour YC in a wide variety of sailing conditions. So far,
the racing amongst the top three has been very competitive. On the first day, January 10th, the fleet was sailing in very challenging conditions, especially out-of-town 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. Of note, the crew of three Pacific Sailing School boats that are sailing in this years Nationals include SAILPAC, STARPAC and PACATACK (picture above).
On Day 2 the fleet 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.
At this stage after day 2, the fleet leaders are SAILPAC's Neville Wittey with a 1-1-2 record for 4 points in first. Second on a rebound roll is Sean Wallis' LUNATIC ASYLUM with a 1-3-4 score for 8 pts. Third is DEATHSTAR sailed by Sean Kirkjian with a 4-2-3 tally for 9 pts. Lying fourth is ACE skippered by Dave West with a 3-6-9 for 18 pts. And rounding out the top five is WAVECUTER II's Graeme Thorburn with a 5-8-6 scorecard for 19 pts. For more J/24 Australian Nationals sailing information. For more J/24 sailboat information.
