By Ian Grant.
Lauren Calder and her SB3 Dart crew are expecting no favours from their male rivals when they line up to contest the 2010 Audi Australian championship in Port Stephens this weekend.
The strict nature of racing in this mentally demanding clone class sports boat is highly competitive and skipper Lauren Calder is not expecting to be handed any favours for her Audi Sunshine Girls racing team.
In fact the all female crew will face a supreme test of tactical sailing to protect their sea room and access to uncontested wind when they duel against a strong group of male skippers who are equally determined to protect their reputations by winning the inaugural Audi National Title trophy.
Heading the list is English helmsman Jono Shelley who enters the tactical ‘dogfight’ at the helm of Club Marine White.
He proudly races under the Union Jack and has never been known to offer his rivals any invitation to dictate with an edge in boat speed which was demonstrated when he sailed to narrow win over Tasmanian Andrew Crisp in Geelong Race Week regatta on Australia Day.
Both Club Marine White and the Andrew Crisp skippered Wedgewood head an impressively competitive fleet including Sunshine Coast skippers Rod Jones and Phil Gray.
Rod Jones who has the career distinction of winning two Audi Australian Ocean Racing championships with the Oceanburo performance sailing team on Alegria will have his small sports boat sailing skills tested in this event.
But skipper Rod Jones like Jono Shelly and Andrew Crisp leaves nothing to chance on the race course.
However they will be hard pressed to find uncontested sailing space with the former Australian 505 dinghy champion Phil Gray and multiple Australian Sail-boards champion Dennis Winstanley.
Winstanley who will race under the Cruising Yacht Club of Hamilton Island burgee is very much the ‘dark horse’ and will need to be closely contained in spite of sailing most of his career as a solo sailboarder.
In fact while past championship results will be respected the respective skippers will need to reproduce their best to emerge as the winner in what promises to become an intense exhibition of fleet match racing to decide the best SB3 Sports boat racing crew in Australia.
Selecting a stand out favourite from this impressive line up is risky however the lone English skipper Jono Shelly will carry the honour into the opening race.
How long he will remain at the top of the class will depend on how well he can tactically manage to ward of the challenges from Andrew Crisp (Wedgewood), Rod Jones (Club Marine Blue), Phil Gray (Dulon Polish) and Dennis Winstanley in (Jump).
There is no doubt that all these skippers are aware that the Audi Sunshine Coast Girls also have the fleet racing experience to present a strong claim to finish in the top four .
But they too will be under the pump and will need to fight hard to be in the medal mix in the championship battle which is likely to be decided over the final metres of the last race.