By Ian Grant At Mooloolaba
Amercias Cup champion John Bertrand placed his chances of winning the 2010 Musto Australasian championship in jeopardy off Mooloolaba when he suffered a black disqualification from the opening race today.
Naturally Bertrand is noted for starting from the front line but both he and his young Queensland crew mates James Chilman and Gary Van Lunteren broke the line too early and were ultimately disqualified.
They suffered the maximum 53 point penalty and after finishing 7 th in race two hold a disappointing 34 th overall in the 52 yacht fleet.
There were no excuses and the champion helmsman who piloted Australia ll to her history making Americas Cup victory in 1983 will need to protect his sailing space in the important remaining races or miss a chance of finishing in the top ten.
As expected the heavy cloud cover and the twisting nature of the breeze left several other major championship winners struggling.
But this was not the case with the New Zealand champion Alistair Gair who made all the smart tactical options at the tiller of Valsheda to finish with the remarkably consistent score of 2-1 to lead the points table over the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club helmsman Mark Thornburrow in Racer X (1-2) while the New South Wales champion David Clark in Fifteen holds third another three points off the pace with a 3-3 score.
Results Race 1: Racer X (Mark Thornburrow, Hong Kong) 1, Valsheda (Alistair Gair NZ) 2, Fifteen (David Clark NSW) 3, Alchemist (Richard Hammond, NSW) 4, Mo Jo (Simon Ellis, Qld) 5, Roulette (Mark Johnson, NSW) 6. Race 2: Valsheda 1, Racer X 2, Fifteen 3, Tusk (Gary Smith, WA) 4, The Moe Szyslak Experience (Brendan Garner, Vic 5), Magpie (Graeme Taylor, Vic) 6. Progressive Placing’s: Valsheda (2- 3 pts on count back 1, Racer X (1-2) 3pts 2, Fifteen 3-3 6pts 3, Roulette (6-8) 14pts 4, B Squared (Gary Boyd, NSW) 8-11 19pts 5, Magpie (18-6) 24pts 6.