(Melbourne, New South Wales, Australia)- Congratulations to Hugo Ottaway
and his crew, Paulina Mattila, Gareth Evans, James Tarode and Megan
Aulich sailing BRUSCHETTA VI, the new Australian National J/24 Class
Champions for 2018. Here is a great play-by-play account of how it wall
went down in the waters of Sandringham Bay off Melbourne, hosted by the
Royal Sandringham YC.
DAY ONE- "Glam" Conditions
Racing got underway in “glam” conditions, sunshine and light
southerlies. Race’s one and two were light and then in a building, but
shifty breeze. The fleet sailed another two races, making it four total
for the day, with the last race sailed in a perfect 15 -16-knot breeze.
Dave West sailing Arthur Crothers’ KAOTIC jumped out of the box in race
one for a win from local sailor Simon Grain in JET, with Jeanette Syme
in WILDFIRE from the South Sydney Fleet taking out third.
Race two saw Sandringham’s “Mr J24” Hugo Ottaway in BRUSCHETTA VI take
the gun from JET again, with Ron Thomson in KICKING third.
As the breeze built in the race, the placings started to change around.
Local class President, John Neville, put in a solid performance to take
the gun from Jordan Sunkel-Lozell and Kirsty Harris in HYPERACTIVE.
Jordan was sailing the Sandringham J/24 Fleet Youth boat SIDETRACKED
like a champ.
Race four, the race management team sensibly got ahead of the program
with a questionable weather forecast for Saturday. The local J/24 Worlds
aspirant Brendan Lee, sailing BY THE LEE, took the gun from Hugo and
Steve Wright sailing TINTO, the latest addition to the Australian fleet
from Germany.
So, the top five crews after day one were all basically tied! Leading
was Ottoway’s BRUSCHETTA VI with a 2-7-1-10 for 20 pts. Behind on the
tie-breaker was Wright’s TINTO with a 3-4-8-5 on 20 pts. Then, third
was a tie-break on 21 pts with Simon Grain’s JET with a 6-11-2-2 with
Harris’ HYPERACITVE with a 9-3-5-4. One point back in fifth was West’s
KAOTIC with a 4-13-4-1 for 22 pts.
That’s what the results say, so what really happened??
JET looked great after the first two races, then faded. But, in a gentlemen’s agreement with John Neville, is one jug up!
Ottoway started badly with a 10th, but won the day, on a count back from
Steve Wright– not exactly creaming the day but 1 point ahead of JET and
HYPERACTIVE. And, KAOTIC with mixed performances is a further point
back.
Looks like Simon likes the light, but Hugo likes the mid-breezes.
Back in the fleet, Chris Ravesi in SANGUINE had an altercation with
newcomer Patricio Sepulveda in BAILE de LUNA. Jordan in SIDETRACKED
busted a lower shroud when doing rather well near the top mark.
DAY TWO- It's Never Like This!
Yes, It’s Melbourne and, as always, it is never like this! But, friends, it is what it was!
The day’s weather was an even better re-run of Day One. Warm sunny and
with 7-12 knot southerly breezes and flat water, the stay at homers will
be wishing they weren’t.
A little point to note from John Neville’s briefing – he/she who wins
the first race of the day commits them and their crew to cooking the
evening BBQ at the Ken King Centre.
Yesterday’s problems are all fixed, SIDETRACKED got new lower shrouds,
SANGUINE had its bow fixed and BAILE De LUNA was replaced with SCRUMPY,
thanks to our very generous Leigh MacLeod.
So it was in Race 5 today that Brendan Lee put his hand up to cook the
BBQ with a good win from Steve Wright in TINTO and John Neville in VICE
VERSA.
Race Six and Sandy’s ex-President, Newsletter Editor in Chief, resident
Scotsman and all round keenest skipper, yelled ‘Och aye the noo’, freely
translated this means ‘just now I won me first Nationals race’ and let
me tell you folks if it wasn’t for being a Scotsman, the credit card
would be out and the bartender shouted “free drinks” on Doug! Well done,
Doug!
In a race of upsets, Jeanette Syme in WILDFIRE had a well-deserved second and Warren Campbell screamed into third. Wow!
An amazing thing so far is that no boat is a stand out, every boat in
the top half of the fleet has had a shocker and with only one drop in
this 12 race series, some of these are going to count. Consistency is
the key.
Speaking of that. Brendan Lee has now had two wins and a few shockers– here is one of them, ouch!
But, it could be any one of us trying just a bit too hard. Brendan spent
the race outside the course looking at this very same video immediately
placed on the Vic J/24 FB site by the amazing Craig Wiley on the start
boat. I’m told he looked at it over 20 times just to make sure. What I
haven’t told you is that we are all under ‘U’ flag in this start. Bye
Bye!
Race Seven and ‘Mr J24’ Hugo Ottaway sailed away from the fleet – and
John Neville in second to lead around every mark, Dave West in KAOTIC
took third in a long battle from Simon Grain in JET.
In the almost as important Thommo Cup, Jeanette is creaming Ron by 4
points. Jack Fullerton, Sandy’s ‘replaced with new’ man is finally
putting it together with a solid 10th place – nice shirts too, Jack.
Dave McKay from the South Sydney Fleet is back in 11th, but here and
sailing, he tells me he left Sydney with just one crew and put the rest
together on the drive down! Well done Dave! By the way, has he told you
he was World Moth Champion and Australian Sailor of the Year in 1969–
buy him two beers and he will tell you about it! We love you in the
class Magoo!
So, you would think that Hugo would be looking pretty good at the end of
Day Two. And, he is, but not quite as good as John Neville, sitting
just one point above him on 23 points. Dave West is third on 25 points
and Simon Grain is fourth on 29 points, clearly the results are close
and with 5 races still to go, the result is far from settled.
Well how does it all look? Lets ask Brendan.
Back in the pack, the new members of our Sandy group are finding out
what bigger one design fleet racing is all about. It’s hard racing, but
it’s fun and everyone is thrilled you guys have joined us! Stick with
it, we are better for your participation by far. Robin and Jim Townsend
from SA have made the trip over and are, as ever, ardent supporters of
the class and the regatta circuit. Next year is your turn and we’ll be
there.
DAY 3- Shifty, Hot & Nuking!
Day three turned most things right around. Gone is the light to medium
Southerly, in is the 42 C degree (HOT!) and a 20–25 knot Northerly. Jibs
for everyone and for the first time in years, code flag – life jackets
today!
Initially felt with some foreboding by some, the hot Northerly belted
the fleet all day. But, it wasn’t the boat and crew crusher some
expected.
Kirsty Harris sailing HYPERACTIVE cleaned up the first two races. They
had a very, very close win from Simon Grain in JET and Brendan Lee in BY
THE LEE in the first race. Then, they had a convincing win in the
second from Hugo Ottaway in BRUSCHETTA VI and Ron Thomson in KICKING.
A little further back, places 5-8 finished in line abreast with a spread
of only 5 seconds (on the score sheet – I would have thought it was
less than that). It was another great example of the close racing the
class is providing. Thanks Craig!
Race Ten was taken out in grand and exciting style by class National President, Ron Thomson, skippering KICKING.
Filling the minor placings in Race Ten were Brendan Lee and Simon Grain.
In any windy day, there are things that just happen. Three people that I
know of went into the water, but hung on to be pulled back on board.
Steve Wright in TINTO had his bowman and kite pole go over– the pole
didn’t come back!
Starting in the strong winds, where you might expect things to get a bit
more ragged, it was quite the opposite for most competitors (not all)
with no U flag today.
So, what happened on the result sheet? Well, quite a few changes. Sadly
for John Neville, yesterday’s regatta leader, a less than a glam day,
resulting in a fall from first to third behind new leader Hugo Ottaway
and in second place Simon Grain. Still wide open, the first 6 places
cover only 10 points and tomorrow sees some serious work still to be
done for the title of National Champion 2018.
By the way, what a fantastic job the whole race management team is
doing. The racing has been handled brilliantly with fair start lines and
a mix of course length and structure. The protest committee has been
busy with a few meetings over the last few days. From us to you– well
done!! Thanks Guys and Girls of the Sandy team!!
DAY FOUR- Battle of the Century!
Day four was a battle for first between Hugo and Simon right to the very
end, with both finishing the last race in the same order as they
finished the regatta.
HYPERACTIVE and VICE VERSA both finished on 58 points for fourth and
fifth, respectively, an indication of the close racing throughout the
regatta.
The last day started slowly with a 12-15 knot southerly, cloudy skies
and much cooler temperatures (to everyone’s relief after the very
draining 42 degree Saturday). With a shifty wind, a couple of generals
and an exemplary attitude from the race committee, after one and a half
hours and seven start sequences we finally got away. Jordan, skippering
the Sandy Youth boat SIDETRACKED, had an absolute blinder of a race,
finishing out front only to suffer the pain of finding he was OCS on a
black flag race.
Steve
Wright in TINTO took the gun, with JET just pipping BRUSCHETTA VI right
on the line. Race 12 had BRUSCHETTA VI taking out the race from JET and
HYPERACTIVE.
The Performance Handicap was won by Robin Townsend in WITCHES THIMBLE
from Jack Fullerton in TWO DOGS and Ron Thomson in KICKING.
In the very popular Thommo Cup, once again Ron took the honours from
Jeanette 7 – 5. Although, he tells me he got a real scare in the middle
of the regatta when it was 4 all!
There are stories too many to mention from the fleet. The standard of
racing is awesome, it doesn’t matter where in the fleet, from front to
back the competition is full on. And everyone is loving it.
Our Sandy Race Management Team did a fantastic job in sometimes trying
conditions. I heard no grumbles, only praise for their very professional
work.
A
comment from Peter Edwards from Cronulla regarding the Race Committee,
“For the next three days I got to experience the most proficient,
organized, and skilled Race Committee I have ever been involved with.
From the top, Graeme Watt and Peter Taylor empower all their team with a
cool calm and sense of importance that make you proud to be involved
with them. My thanks go to all the team for allowing me to be part of
your team.
Sandringham Race Committee are as good as it gets, if not better, and I
had so much enjoyment in being part of it, I really didn’t want to
leave!!”
The Vic J/24 fleet did a fantastic job organizing the regatta. President
John Neville and the committee put in huge hours, effort and energy
into making these Nationals one of the best anyone can remember.
The presentation was held in the Sandy Harbourview restaurant, another
very successful evening with El Presidente, master MC and funnyman John
Neville. He lamented that the regatta had not ended when he was
winning, but doing a sterling job presenting trophies, cracking jokes
and keeping us all in laughter.
Sailing photo credits- Luis Ferreiro- contact him- PH: 0439 353 865 or
website- http://www.luisferreiro.com. And, you can see more fantastic pics of the action here-
http://www.sportsnap.com.au For
more Australian J/24 Nationals sailing information
Add to Flipboard Magazine.
Day Two
with 41 pts (of note- he was top dog in a three-way tie count-back scenario with Ricardo Umpierre’s XTREME 4U and Sebastian Rana’s BANQUITOS.
(Block Island, RI)- The Duck Island Yacht Club in Westbrook, Connecticut and the Block Island Yacht Club have teamed up to co-host Block Island Race Week 2018. The event will feature five days of racing on Block Island Sound June 17-22.
The 2018 event will feature a whole host of unique events including:
(Monte Carlo, Monaco)- Having won two of the three regattas to date, Russia’s top woman sportsboat skipper, Valerya Kovalenko, is making a big impression on the J/70 fleet. Her crew on ARTTUBE outwitted the competition and she has all the resources required to make this top-step podium finish at the YC Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series.
A Breath of fresh air blows through J/70 class
As
always, teams had their share of tricks to get them around the race
course. North Sails Tim Healy joined John Heaton’s Chicago YC-based team
EMPEIRIA for the weekend and shared some tips with everyone afterward.
Here is what he had to say about maximizing crew technique in flat-water
marginal planing conditions.
It
was Jorge who coordinated Pedro’s visit, and who along with his wife
and crew, an attractive woman named Mercedes, ushered my own visit. One
of four female J24 sailors in the fleet, Mercedes would ask questions
during Pedro’s seminar, take notes on the boat’s new list of needs as he
measured, and use oil and acrylics to paint the Regatta de Amigos
annual trophy, a sunset sailboat scene on a flat cut of oak!
One
sailor, who goes so far as to have the definition of the name of his
J/24 elegantly strewn down the hull, is French born, Yucatán married,
and with American in-laws. He and most my amigos for the weekend moved
between English for me as needed, but there were still many more jokes I
failed to grasp than those I understood. Instead, I smiled a lot!
Moreover, as my skipper Mike Dutton yelled the Mexican-Spanish word for
“Hike on Jorge’s boat, Pedro struggled to get his crew to understand the
same command in Argentine-Spanish! Needless to say, I was reminded that
sailing has but one language.
J/FEST Northwest Announcement
(Newport, RI)- Finn Hadlock was just 24 years old when he led his young team from Maine
to compete in the 2017 J/24 World Championship in Toronto, Canada.
There were many steps between when he first bought the boat to
fulfilling this goal, and has provided this report in hopes that other
young adults looking to start their own team can learn from his two-year
odyssey.
