On a day of very shifty winds, the Australian team has had mixed results on day two of the International Cadet World Championships being sailed at Bodstedt, Germany.
Three races were sailed overnight, with five Australian crews in the top 20 of the 63-boat fleet, two in the top six.
Peter Allen and Ashton Rowstron from the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria moved up from seventh to fifth overall, sailing consistently with placings of 10-10-9.
However, each of the other six Australian crews had at least one disappointing race.
Jacob McConaghy and Sam Hooper from Hobart’s Sandy Bay Sailing Club dropped from fourth to sixth in standings, with a score of 19-7-40, the fifth race being their first discard.
Fellow SBSC members Archer Ibbott and James Gough jumped from 22nd to 11th after five races allowed them to discard their race two penalty which placed them 45th in that race. Their day two placings were 27-14-8.
Hugo Allison and Grace Hooper, the youngest Tasmanian crew, also jumped up the rankings from 35th to 14th after discarding their race two BFD (black flag).
They started day two with a 33rd place, but got back amongst the leaders with a ninth and a 10th in the subsequent races.
“Not the best of days today,” was brother Jack Allison’s comment after day two. “There were incredibly shifty conditions on the water with huge gains and losses to be had.
“I struggled to piece together a perfect race; however, my last was very close to it, 44th, 36th and a 19th.
“We have now dropped down 10 places to 30th, however it is still only early on in the regatta so heads are still high,” added Jack, who is sailing with Luca Groves as crew.
Elliott Hughes and Cate McCoy from Royal Geelong Yacht Club suffered badly on day two, slipping from sixth to 17th. They started the day with a 29th place, then a 40th (discard) followed by an 18th.
Emma Kelly and Oliver Grieve, also from RGYC also found the fickle breeze difficult to pick on day two, finishing 46th (discard) in race three and following this with a 22nd and a 20th to be 25th overall.
Words: Peter Campbell
Photos: Cadet Worlds 2018
31 July 2018
Paul Burnell, his sons Oli and Toby and Bayley Fisher, sailing Honeybadger, set the pace in the inaugural mid-winter championship on the Derwent for the high-performance SB20 sports boat class.
Burnell won the first two races in light north to north-westerly winds, following these with a seventh and a fifth for a 14 point total, six points clear of his nearest rivals.
Co-incidently, the Sandy Bay Sailing Club stalwart’s success comes on the eve of the International Cadet world championship in Germany, a title Burnell won twice as a teenager.
Burnell has continued as an active and successful adult sailor, his sons Oli and Toby following as talented sailors in dinghy classes and, over the past few seasons, as top crew in the family SB20.
They finished 16th overall and won one race of the 2018 SB20 Worlds sailed on the Derwent last January.
Despite light winds yesterday, the Derwent Sailing Squadron completed the four races, with four more scheduled for today when fresher winds are predicted.
With Honeybadger winning the first two races, the first by a mere five seconds, race three went to former champion Sharpie sailor Frazer Read in Pinch.
Race four went to Michael Cooper, helming Export Roo. who finished seventh overall and second Australian boat in the 2018 worlds in Hobart and was runner-up in the 2017 worlds at Cowes, UK.
Going into day two, Honeybadger is on 14 points, Pinch sharing 20 points with the Porco Rosso (Ellliott Noye).
Close behind the three leading boats are Export Roo and Brainwave (Scott Brain) on 21 points, Team Musto (George Peacock) on 22 points and The Monkey Boat (Edward Fader) on 23 points.
Unfortunately, racing on the Sunday was abandoned because of no wind on the Derwent. The DSS Winter Series Race was also abandoned.
Words: Peter Campbell
Photos: Jane Austin
28 July 2018
Eight young Tasmanian sailors, all members of Sandy Bay Sailing Club, are about to represent their country in the International Cadet World Championships in Germany.
The championship, which has attracted 120 Cadet crews from 13 countries, opens overnight with a practice race and the opening ceremony at Bodstedt.
The first day of competition will be overnight on Sunday, 29 July, with racing continuing through to 3 August.
Most of the national teams have been training for the past week with the Australian team of eight boats, four from SBSC and four from Victorian clubs, sailing against 40 other Cadets from Belgium, Spain and Cuba to get some big-fleet experience.
Weather forecasts predict that the regatta will be sailed in 6-10 knots with a sea breeze adding a few extra knots in the afternoons.
The Tasmanian boats and crews in the Australian team are: Hurricane, helm Jacob McConaghy (15), crew Sam Hooper (9); Little Devil, helm Archer Ibbott (15), crew James Gough (12); Schmoken, helm Jack Allison (13), crew Luca Groves (11); Ikon 10, helm Hugo Allison (13), crew Grace Hooper (12).
Tony Bull from Geelong is the Australian team coach.
Aarhus, Denmark, three other Tasmanians will be competing in the Sailing World Championships for Olympic classes with racing also starting overnight on Sunday.
Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania member Jock Calvert will be racing in the Finn single-handed men’s dinghy class while Sandy Bay Sailing Club’s Jasmin Galbraith and Chloe Fisher are competing in the women’s 49erFX skiff class.
Words: Georgie Ibbott/Peter Campbell
Photo: Peter Campbell
28 July 2018
Hobart’s fleet of high-performance SB20 sports boats is back on the Derwent this weekend with crews returning to championship racing after the hiatus that followed the spectacular world championships last summer.
A fleet of 14 SB20s, smaller than expected but high in quality, will contest the inaugural mid-winter championship over eight races today and tomorrow.
Racing should be spectacular, with 10-20 knot north-westerly winds forecast for today, becoming variable around midday, while on a wet Sunday northerly winds of 10-15 knots are forecast, turning north-west and freshening to 15-10 knots.
While many crews have been taking a break, Elliott Noye, Paul McCartney and Edward Snowball have been racing McCartney’s European-based boat, Porco Rosso, internationally this winter including placing second overall in the Portuguese nationals.
With this most recent overseas competition, the Porco Rosso team will go afloat this morning favourites for the mid-winter championship title, but they face strong opposition.
Michael Cooper, runner-up in the 2017 worlds at Cowes, England, will be hard to beat in Export Roo, as will be Paul Burnell in Honeybadger, Nick Rogers in Karabos, George Peacock at the helm of Team Musto and Frazer Read, helming Pinch.
Two all-women crews from Athena Sailing have entered, Anna Reid steering Essence of Athena and Pride of Athena (Colleen Darcey and Claire Cunningham).
Derwent Sailing Squadron is conducting the SB20 Mid-Winter Championships and will also be running the Nationals on the river in spring.
Words: Peter Campbell
Photos: Jane Austin
27 July 2018
Hobart sailors Alice Buchanan and Dervla Duggan have produced impressive results on the penultimate day of the 2018 Youth Sailing World Championships being sailed off Corpus Christie in Texas.
Sailing in the 29er skiff class, the Sandy Bay Sailing Club members finished the day with a brilliant 3-5-2 score to jump from 14th to ninth overall with one final race due to be sailed today.
They began the regatta with a UFD disqualification for a starting line breach and followed this with placings of 8-8-13-21-11-14 before sailing home to a close fourth in race nine.
A Norwegian crew heads the leader board with one race to sailing followed the USA and crews from Russia, Italy, Brazil and France.
The Australian youth team has won the gold medal in the Nacra catamaran class, a silver in the boys 420 and a bronze medal in the boys Laser class. – Peter Campbell
Words: Peter Campbell
20 July 2018
A team of seven girls from Hobart’s Fahan School have won the all-female division of the Australian Secondary Schools Team Racing Championships at Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron in Victoria. (more…)
