By Ian Grant.
Victorian Michael Hiatt has again welcomed the opportunity to escape the chill factor associated with Southern Ocean south westerlies by steering his Farr 55 Living Doll towards the warmer winter climate racing in the Whitsunday Islands.
Michael Hiatt the Living Doll fashion label chief executive and his experienced crew of ocean racing sailors including Volvo Globe race navigator Will Oxley sailing master Ross Lloyd and Ben Lamb are on the long haul to defend their Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week IRC championship later this month.
All are very familiar with the picturesque coastal scenery between the cold Victorian port of Williamstown and the friendly winter yachting paradise of Airlie Beach and Hamilton Island and have capped the experience by winning the past two “tropical shirt’ regattas hosted by the Whitsunday Sailing Club.
When the friendly Michael Hiatt accepted the championship trophy in 2010 he said” The Living Doll crew will be back for more racing in a warm friendly environment in 2011” Read more…
The signature offshore event of the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron
Sponsor against Sponsor!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
It’s not often you would find sponsor’s battling for supremacy at a club race, however this is not just any race, the Brisbane to Keppel Tropical Yacht Race [B2K] breeds a different kind of sponsor.In the midst of one of Australia’s fastest growing offshore yacht races, the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron pits boat against boat, member against member and sponsor against sponsor.
The B2K sponsors not only support the race, but this year’s entry line up sees two of the event sponsors racing to the finish at Keppel Bay.
Angove’s Family Wine Makers and Morgan’s Seafood will meet at the start line for the fifth year running, rather than becoming tangled in a race within a race, their focus still remains in the fun of competing.
‘We love the action, the lead-up prep, the on-board bonding, destination entertainment and of course the racing – we love the race so much so that we, Morgan’s Seafood, are delighted to be sponsoring again this year,’ said Penny Morgan, General Manager of Morgan’s Seafood and crew member on board Dream Lover.
Sean Trotter, the Queensland Sales Manager for Angove’s Family Winemakers said the company came on board as a sponsor in the inaugural year of the event and they always look forward to competing on the Sydney 36, Gauntlet. Read more…
As the most sailed class in the world the Laser is a dinghy that requires great physical and mental strength. Known for its large fleets and tactical racing, laser sailors from around the world gathered this year in La Rochelle for the start of the 2011 Laser Radial World Championships.
One of Queensland and Australia’s best youth radial sailor Mitchell Kennedy travelled from his home on the warm Sunshine Coast to a surprisingly warm summer in France to compete in the Radial World Championships. Arriving in La Rochelle a week before the racing started, Kennedy had a few days of training and relaxing before beginning the intense racing that would follow over the next 10 days.
The regatta started with rain and wind that caused the cancellation of the practice race. Nonetheless Minimes Bay known for its large swell would turn on some exciting racing conditions in days to follow. Day two was more promising for the 86 strong fleet. Conditions cleared and a breeze that was steady at around 20knots blew across the bay. Known for his speed and strength in the windier conditions the young athlete from Queensland was more then excited to prove his metal against some of the best youth radial sailors in the world. “I’m really looking forward to the regatta, the racing will be awesome, and La Rochelle looks like such a nice spot for a regatta” Kennedy said.
Racing extremely well in the first three days with an extremely consistent score card of two fourths and three seconds, Kennedy was positioned for a top finish. The strong winds that challenged the fleet continued throughout the regatta, as the sailors were punished physically as they pushed their boats through the large running swell. “The racing was really tough, six days of intense conditions with winds of anywhere between 15 and 25 knots, Big waves and lots of tide” Kennedy said.
Photos – Sime Sokota
Words – Andrew Gough
Returning home after a memorable adventure from their quite town of Manly in Brisbane, The young Queensland 29er success story of Josh Franklin (17) and Lewis Brake (16) continued their achievements during a European summer away.
After winning the Australian 29er Open and Youth Championships in 2010-11, Franklin and Brake continued to train hard from their home club in Brisbane the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. The pair had their eyes set on a podium finish in the European regattas they would compete in; Kiel Woche and the ISAF Youth Worlds, and that is exactly what they did.
Flying into Germany for the first time the boys were anxious to get their first glimpse of the venue, the boats and the water. Known for its cold water sailing and fickle conditions Kiel would be a challenge for the young Queensland team, nonetheless they had done the preparation and were ready to hit the water. “We had one day to set the boat up, 3 days training then the regatta” Brake recalls.
By Ian Grant.
Australian and World champion Olympic 470 sailors Matthew Belcher and Malcolm Page will take a welcome break from their intensive international competition in late August.
The Gold Coast helmsman Matthew Belcher and his Sydney crew mate2008 Gold Medallist Malcolm Page will leave the boat cover on their 470 dinghy and the cold water sailing environment of Europe to spend a week soaking up the sun and the pleasant warmer winds in the Whitsunday Islands.
However they will not be leaving their official SLAM Australian team sailing suits at home as they have accepted an invitation to team up with the 1976 Olympic Bronze medallist Ian Brown to contest the Queensland SB3 Dart sports boat championship during the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week.
Naturally Matthew Belcher and Malcolm Page currently ranked as the best in the World and listed among the favourites to win an Olympic Medal at the London Olympics in 2012 will face a formidable challenge when the sails are tensioned for the honour of winning the SB3 Queensland championship. Read more…
I’ve been home for just short of a week now from my European trip which extended over 9 weeks – across 4 different countries – and where I competed in 4 international regattas. Overall, it was a great experience! I competed in my first medal race (narrowly missing a second medal race by 1 point), that was probably the highlight of my trip! After the completion of the ISAF Sailing World Cup, I have placed 23rd Overall, after competing in Sail Melbourne, Miami OCR, Delta Lloyd Regatta, Sail for Gold and Kiel Woche, having not competed in Hyeres and Palma, which is a pleasing result.
It was a shame to finish with a 33rd overall at the ISAF Youth Worlds, after having 3 great events prior to this, but I was able to finish well with a 1st in the final race. I won the race convincingly, crossing the finish line probably 2 minutes before the next boat. In Croatia, the main wind range is a mere 0-12 knots, being so light most of the time the differences between the competitive youth weight and competitive open weight had a major play in the results over in Croatia. Myself, being aligned more to the competitive open weight made it difficult at times to race, when other girls had a clear speed advantage as they were lighter. It was a good regatta and I feel my light wind sailing has definitely benefited from the racing.
Some other good news is I have been allocated a place for the 2011 ISAF Open Worlds to be held in Perth, in December later this year. This will be my new peak regatta, which I will be working towards over the next 5 months. I have a great opportunity to do well over in Perth and I am going to make the most of it. I move forward from the encouraging fact that my world ranking has moved up to 39th from 67th prior to my departure to Europe. I will keep you all updated as to my progress and training, thank you again for all your support as my results and further progress is only enhanced through your backing.
Many thanks,
Ashley
Ashley Stoddart
Member of the Australian Sailing Squad
Laser Radial
Mobile: +61 (0) 404 296 426
Phone: +61 7 3204 4336
Email: ashley@stoddartelectrical.com.au
Skype: ashley.stoddart
Web: www.australiansailingteam.com.au
By Ian Grant.
Damien Suckling steered the Scott Jutson designed Another Fiasco to a 27 second corrected handicap win to keep his prospects of winning the Whitsunday Sailing Club Doyle Sails Trophy alive on Pioneer Bay last week.
The Another Fiasco crew better known for their Performance handicap win in the 2006 Rolex Sydney Hobart race are generally more suited to racing on the longer offshore courses.
However they combined cleverly to become the star performer in the variable 9-12 easterly breeze to press their major rival the Charles Wallis helmed Reignition into a matched race to decide the line honours.
Both crews were so evenly matched that the first to finish award hung in the balance before the hard pressed Reignition combination claimed a narrow 5 second win.
This minor 5 second margin proved to be the difference which prevented the Another Fiasco crew from winning a rare line and handicap double as they enter into the final weeks of club point score racing before lining up for the opening race 2011 Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week on August 12.
Based on this result where the Another Fiasco crew answered the challenge to outpace the lower handicapped Treasure V111 (Harold Menelaus) and Bobby D (Ross Winterbourne) confirmed that skipper Damien Suckling has hit form at the right time.
The result from their nip-n-tuck style match race against the Reignition crew was full of merit in a breeze which was soft and spiced with tricky changes in velocity and direction.
It also provided a boost in confidence to both skipper and crew who have high hope of securing a major place when the battle line is drawn to decide the Pacific Pontoon and Pier title series over the more open Whitsunday Passage waters next month. Read more…
By Ian Grant.
Bob Oatley’s super –maxi Wild Oats X1 remains poised to rewrite the record books in Australia’s premier coastal passage races the Audi Sydney to Gold Coast and the Club Marine Brisbane to Keppel in coming weeks.
The Mark Richards helmed Wild Oats X1 the present record holder and five times line honours winner of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race has the proven boat speed to wrap up both records before heading to race in the warm waters of the Whitsunday Islands as a feature entry in the 2011 Audi Hamilton Island Race Week.
Her challenge starts with the Audi Sydney to Gold Coast race at 1pm on Saturday July 30 hopefully sailing the 384 nautical mile course before moderate to fresh spinnaker sailing winds to reach the finish line off Southport’s Main Beach before the record time expires 4-35 pm on Sunday.
Previously unstable coastal weather conditions have left the power sailing Wild Oats X1 falling short of breaking the 27 hour 35 minute 3 second record set by the George Snow skippered Brindabella in 1999.
But long range forecasters are suggesting that the cold Southerlies which have gusted to gale strength along the New South Wales coast this week could be similar to the expected official race forecast.
However time will tell if Mark Richards and his 23 member Wild Oats X1 crew will dock at the Southport Yacht Club Marina by completing the testing tactical race with an average speed of slightly better than 13.92 knots. Read more…
Hi All,
Since our last report, Mat and I have competed in the Open European Championships in Helsinki, Finland.
We were the last class to finish in what was a combined Olympic classes regatta. Only the windsurfer boards did not attend this regatta.
It was our first time to Finland. It was crazy to see the endless days with only 4 hours of darkness per night. Trying to break into the timezone from home was a little tricky.
Before coming to Helsinki, we were scared that this northern city on the Baltic Sea would be freezing cold. But we were treated with warm and balmy conditions. Originally the 470 course was going to be approx 10 kilometers from shore, but as the lasers had already finished their championship, we were lucky enough to be moved to this track which was about a third of this distance out. It has been the closest race track all this season in Europe and it was a special treat to be able to see the host city for once. This area was also made more interesting with island dodging becoming a necessary skill.
Almost all of the best teams were at the regatta, so the fleet was at it’s usual high standard. We put together a great solid week of racing to win this regatta on points before the medal race. We got to stand on the 1952 Olympic games dias when we were presented with the Open European Champion trophy. This is the first time as a team that Mathew and I have won this crown. As Australians we are only eligible to win the open title, so the 2nd placed Croatian team took out the ‘European Champion’ trophy.
This makes us the current World, European, North American, Australian and World Cup Champions. That being said the next stop on the tour is Weymouth for the Pre Olympic Test Event in early August. Many teams consider this to be one of the main regattas for this year (along with the Worlds in Perth coming up in December). The gloves will be off with everyone wanting to make an impression for selectors.
Until next time,
Malcolm and Mat.
By Ian Grant.
Whitsunday Sailing Club Commodore Kevin Fogarty staked a claim to win the Whitsunday Sail Loft Doyle Sails trophy when he helmed Idle Time to a runaway win on Pioneer Bay.
Both he and his long term crew were on top of the game in the ideal 12-15 knot South East breeze winning the top handicap place by a runaway 2 minutes 32 seconds over line honours winner the Terry Archer helmed AC40 Questionable Logic.
The victory has no doubt built the crews confidence of carrying the form into the more important Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week Performance Handicap class championship from August 12-18.
As expected the larger and faster Questionable Logic controlled the race for line honours to eventually record a relatively comfortable 1nminute 4 second win over the MBD 41 Reignition (Charles Wallis) with a further 5 minutes 54 seconds to the Damien Suckling steered Jutson 43 Another Fiasco.
But the Idle Time crew racing with a handicap rating of .804 the lowest in the fleet sailed a tactically smart race to remain in control of protecting their rating ahead of Questionable Logic and Esoteric (Col Forster).
However the Idle Time crew who celebrated the win can expect to face a tactical challenge from their rivals before the final series deciding race is contested on July 27.
Meanwhile skipper Kevin Fogarty who deserved the honour to sit on the ‘winner’s stool’ at the yachties bar remains confident of protecting his point score while the rival crews on Questionable Logic and Esoteric search for a marginal boat speed advantage to match the lower handicapped Idle Time when the sails are tensioned for the important trophy deciding final. Read more…