(Sydney, Australia)- This year’s J/24 Nationals were sailed on the
fabulous Sydney Harbour and the teamwork at the host club, Royal Prince
Edward YC, was nothing short of amazing. Though the fleet had thirteen
teams participating, the depth of talent was huge and great skippers
were back in the pack. Midway through the regatta, Ben Lamb, Dave Suda
and Steve Girdis all had a mathematical chance of winning the regatta.
It was incredibly close racing all the way until the end. In fact, big
changes could (and did) happen on the final day of racing in the middle
of the pack where just 6 pts separated six 
places!
In this group, Rolex Sydney-Hobart winning tactician Sean Kirkjian,
Vlad (Singapore), Doug Watson, J Spot, Ron Thompson, Dave West, are all
great skippers and would be treated to a “roller-coaster” ride of ups
& downs all the way to the end.Steve Girdis sailing CONVICTS REVENGE was crowned the Australian 2014 J/24 National Champion in an ultra-tight battle in the last two races, winning by just one point as a result of winning the last race! It was not an easy title to come by with so many tough cowboys vying for the podium. It was consistent sailing that ultimately won the day for the CONVICTS, posting a 3-3-3-6-2-3-1-2-4-1 scoreline for 23 pts net. Early regatta leaders, Ben Lamb’s KAOTIC crew, surely must’ve “blown a fuse” after winning four of the first six races
(maybe
it was too much grog?). In races 7, 8, 9 they posted a disastrous
6-5-10 and basically had to win the last race to gain the title. Alas,
that was not in the cards for them, watching Girdis’s CONVICTS win the
finale and bragging rights as “Top Gun” in the Australian J/24 fleet. Dave Suda’s gangsters on PACEMAKER were lying second after eight races with a very consistent scoreline of 1-4-2-4-4-2-3-1. But, like their colleagues on KAOTIC, they also experienced a bit of chaos with the “wheels falling off their shopping trolley” in the last two races. PACEMAKER’s 5-7 in races 9 & 10 dropped them into third overall, taking the bronze in a tough, tough fleet. Rounding out the top five were BY THE LEE and Kirkjian’s SAIL PAC in 4th & 5th, respectively. For more J/24 Australian Nationals sailing information
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