Two of the Australia's three crews contesting the Cascais SB20 World Championship off the coast of Portugal have finished in the top five of the 78 boat fleet on day one, revelling in the boisterous sailing conditions.

Flirtatious, skippered by VIctorian Chris Dare, is third overall and Tasmanian entrant Export Roo, with Michael Cooper on the helm, is fifth in standings. Mind Games (Phil Reid), also representing the Hobart fleet , did not have a good start and is 50th overall.

Sailing under a hot Portuguese sun the north-west to westerly breezes of 15-25 knots created magnificent downwind sailing for the huge one-design sportsboat fleet as they carried their big asymmetric spinnakers.

Competitors, especially the two top Australian boats, enjoyed sleigh rides on the Atlantic rollers, reaching speeds of up to 18 knots.

Because of the rising seas and wind gusts in the high 20’s, race officers of Clube Naval de Cascais moved the third race close inshore, which added a tactical element with reading the wind shifts prove the key to success.

On a day that tested boating handling, crew work, stamina and wind strategy, few crews managed to avoid a mid-fleet, high-scoring finish in at least one of the three races.

.At the end of day one in 14-race regatta, a Russian and a Portugese crew held the first two positions with Australia’s Flirtatious following a race one 14th place with a impressive second and a third.

Hugo Rocha, skippered the Russian boat New Territories, was by far the boat of the day with a 2-3-1 scorecard for a 6 points lead from the Portugese boat Clever Mobility (Vasco Serpa) on 14 points (11-1-2) and Flirtatious on 19 points (14-2-3).

Michael Cooper and his crew of RYCT Commodore Matthew Johnston and David Chapman of Export Roo scored 4-13-5 to finish the day with 22 points, a close fifth overall in the huge and highly competitive fleet, many with professional crews.

Mind Games,  sailed by Phil Reid, Andre DeClerck and Sam Ibbott,  placed 54-50-43 on day one.

 

 

 

 

 

Hobart’s SB20 fleet, the fastest growing class fleet in the world, hopes to make its mark on the international scene this week,  with the crews of Export Roo and Mind Games contesting the 2016 World championships at Cascais, an historic seaport in Portugal.

Three Australian crews, two from Tasmania and one from Victoria,  are taking on some of the world’s best sailors when they  contest the championship with competition starting overnight tomorrow (Tuesday).

The 73 boat fleet from 13 nations is packed with Olympic medallists, round the world sailors and champions from this and other classes,  with the 14-race regatta running through to next Saturday, 3 September.

The Export Roo, Michael Cooper,  Matthew Johnston and David Chapman,  has already shown they will be strong contenders for the Worlds,  finishing eighth overall in the Pre-Worlds regatta, sailed over the weekend.

Cooper sailed Export Roo to placings of 7-14-22-2-9 to finish a close eighth to crews from France, Russia and Great Britain.

Victorian Chris Dare, sailing Flirtatious,  finished 19^th overall in the pre-Worlds,  including a third in the second last race.  Mind Games,  sailed by Phil Reid, Sam Ibbott and Andre DeClerk, finished 28^th overall.

Heading the line-up for the Worlds is defending champion,  the young French 49er sailor Gabriel Skoczek, while another leading competitor is expected to be Rodion Luka from the Ukraine, an Olympic silver medallist in the 49er in 2004.

Additional competition will be for the Nations Cup.  Last year the Russians won a closely fought inaugural contest which they claimed by just one point from the Australian and British teams.

In addition to competing the Worlds,  the Tasmanian crews will be promoting the SB20 Worlds to be conducted by the Derwent Sailing Squadron and the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania on the River Derwent in January 2018.

Peter Campbell

29 August 2016

SB20 one-design sportsboat enthusiasts Brett and Jacinta Cooper today sailed their brand new boat, Aeolus, to a win on its first day of racing in the Derwent Sailing Squadron/Cascade Winter Series on the River Derwent.

The Coopers,  pioneers of the class in Hobart,  won the second race of the day in a close duel with first race winner Wicked (Andrew Blakney), getting the gun by just 20 seconds.

Close astern came Hypertronics (Stephen Catchpool), Difficult Women (Rob Gough), Pinch (Frazer Read) and another new boat Essence of Athena (Athena Sailing) – with just 17 seconds separating this group.

The smart performance by Essence of Athena gave the Athena Sailing crew first place on PHS scoring in race two from Aeolus and Power of Athena.

Wicked had an even closer line honours win in the first race,  beating Mind Games (Phil Reid) across the line by just four seconds, with Hypertronics third and also first on PHS. Pinch took second place on PHS, Mind Games third.

Today’s SB20 fleet of 16 boats was the biggest so far in the DSS Winter Series and included four SB20s from the Athena Sailing women’s sailing program.

After eight races (two each day) so far in the Winter Series,  Wicked heads both the One Design and PHS categories in the SB20s.  Difficult Women is a close second with Foreign Object (George Peacock) third in standings.

Shaun Tiedemann’s Sydney 36cr Philosopher won Division 1 from series leader Zephyr (Ian Johnston) and Juana (Jock Young). Shaun was on the helm today as his son, Sam, had got a late call to join the crew of Alive at Airlie Beach Race Week in the Whitsundays.

With a consistent scorecard of 1-5-1-2,  Zephyr has a handy five points lead going into the final race of the DSS/Cascade Winter Series Division 1 from War Games (Wayne Banks-Smith) with Philosopher and the classic 8-metre yacht Juana (Jock Young) vying for third place overall.

The fifth and final DSS Winter Race is scheduled for Sunday, 4 September.

In Division 2, series leader Another Toy,  the Latham Syndicate’s J24, was beaten for the first time this winter, placing fifth today. Race winner was Spare Time (Shane Powell) from Zest (Matt Westland) and Vasco (Graeme Harrington).

However, Another Toy still heads the leaderboard, three points clear of Wildfire (Jon Ettershank) with Vasco four points back in third position.

There was a similar result today in Division 3, with Serenity (Graham Hall) finishing third after three consecutive wins.  Dynamo (Stephen Davidson) placed first from Cool Change (Chris Bobbi) and Serenity.

Going in the final race of the Winter Series, Serenity has a three points overall lead from Dynamo with Cool Change four points back in third place.

Peter Campbell

14 August 2016