Day 3 started with similar conditions to the last 2 days and race 7 saw a fine downwind tustle between Sean Wallis on Lunatic Asylum and Neville Wittey on Sailpac on the last leg – with Sean Wallis just taking the honours by centimetres. Sean Kirkjian followed with third on Death Star.
Race 8 saw a slight wind increase and some boats changing down to jibs for the first upwind leg. This time Sean Kirkjian finished first with a nice lead, after using his genoa for the whole race. Sailpac came in 2nd again, followed by Sean Wallis in third.
The top 3 boats all scored 4 points each today. It appears that the championship is between Sean Kirkjian and Neville Wittey but we will see what day 4 brings.
Innaminka, steered by Robert Crawford , first time sailing on a J24 took 2 fourth places today and are running 4th overall after a consistently good week.
Day 2 started with similar wind conditions to Day 1 – flukey 15 knots easterlies, tending north for the third race of the day produced difficult helming conditions for skippers. Nev Wittey took out race 4 from Sean Kirkjian, with a convincing two and a half minute win. Robert Crawford sailing Innaminka came in a close third after Death Star.
Ron Thomson sailing Kicking Bottom had his best race of the series so far, with an impressive 4th, just 6th seconds behind
Innaminka.
Race 5 produced an exciting finish between Sean Kirkjian and David West with only 1 second separating first and second. Robert Crawford scored another third, only 10 seconds behind the winner. Peter Stevens on Code Violation had his best race so far, to finish fourth.
Race 6 was a black flag start after a general recall, unfortunately seeing series leader Nev Wittey over the line, as well as Madder n Badder. The two Seans, Kirkjian and Wallis battled for first and second throughout the race. Simon Grain helming Make My Jay finished third -their best race so far!
Today’s black flag has caused major change in overall placings in the regatta with yesterdays series leader, Nev Wittey dropping back to third and Sean Kirkjian moving up the placings to first.
A challenging day for most of the fleet, especially interstate boats who aren’t used to the 2m swell and shifty light winds.
Race 1 was convincingly won by Nev Wittey on Sailpac who led from start to finish, closely followed by John Crawfords’ Innaminka, skippered by his nephew, Robert Crawford and third place went to Death Star skippered by Sean Kirkjian. Defending National champion, Sean Wallis came 4th on Lunatic Asylum.
Race 2 saw Neville Wittey win again, very closely followed by Sean Kirkjian with Sean Wallis only 9 seconds further back.
The third race of the day was abandoned after a wind shift and was then re-run, this time seeing Sean Wallis take honours over Neville Wittey and Ace, sailed by David West coming third.
Overall standings after Day 1 are:
1st – Sailpac – Neville Wittey
2nd – Lunatic Asylum – Sean Wallis
3rd – Death Star – Sean Kirkjian
Great performances today also from David West on Ace, Wavecutter II skippered by Graeme Thorburn and Robert Crawford on Innaminka who took the next three placings.
With the first warning signal at 1155 on Monday 10 January, you can view results for the Nationals throughout the week at http://www.mhyc.com.au/files/results/2010/events/J24/series.htm. With a fleet of 16, including 3 boats from South Australia and 2 from Melbourne, watch for some hot competition on the water!
Don’t forget to mark 10-14 January 2011 in your sailing calender for the J24 Nationals…Middle Harbour Yacht Club in Sydney are hosting the event and you enter online via http://www.mhyc.com.au/sailing-championships1.cfm
It’s promising to be a great week with 4 days of racing and a fun filled lay day. Any questions, call Terry on 0413 876184 or Paula on 0404 539176.
Congratulations to the crew of J-Spot – storming around the MHYC race course on Saturday in Sydney Harbour – a beautiful day with a consistent 12knots, 25 degrees, a great Windward Leeward 4 lap course. Their now famous photo dragging the MOB over the finish must have boosted their ego (as well as stretching his arms) – a great win – just beating the always well sailed Vortex by 39 seconds!!!
In Saturdays fantastic MHYC Race, the J fleet comments are that a lot of fun was had – blue skies, good solid breezes, dolphins on the start line… – probably not so much fun for the wet crew member off J-Spot…Post race comments from Skipper Adam were along the lines off telling him they were only 20m from the finish line so hang on….eye witnesses report it was more like 150m…
The Nationals are only 2 months away and we encourage you to organise getting your boats to Sydney soon, if you are coming from Interstate – now is also a good time to think about accomodation and logistics.
The Balmain Regatta is one of Sydney’s oldest sporting events, and has a long history with our waterways. It was first held in 1849 and continued until 1934, when sadly it was discontinued. It was revived in 1994 by the Wooden Boat Association, and Balmain Sailing Club participated in the Balmain Regatta in 1995 and 1996 as one of its Spring Series races.
In 1997, it was run as a separate event, jointly organised by the Balmain Sailing Club and the Wooden Boat Association. Today it is run by Balmain Sailing Club, in association with other sailing clubs and community organisations, and is a real celebration of Balmain, the harbour and our maritime heritage. The event attracts over 150 vessels on the water, making it one of the great annual spectacles around Balmain.
A couple of months ago I was contacted by Neil Hamilton from the Race Committee and asked if we could get a J24 fleet together as they would like to give us our own division – a lot of phone calls and encouragement later we have a fleet of 6, enough to race!! Wildfire’s Brett Hudson is always keen to race, as is Kaotic – both sailing down from Middle Harbour. Fun, newly owned by Paul Baker and David Lamb will, I’ve learnt, just be wherever you tell them to be, Madder ‘n Badder have the one design racing bug since coming to the NSW State Championship and local entry Maritime Training School made up the fleet, joined by our new crew on Sailpac.
A Spinnaker start in a 10-15 Northeasterly winds soon splits the fleet with Madder ‘n Badder getting away, Kaotic not far behind them and then a match race for the next 20 mins between Sailpac and Wildfire. Fun and Maritime Training School not far behind! Shifty winds and shadows from all the islands and headlands around make it a tactical race with a mix of works, kite runs and reaches.
Tim Briggs, steering Sailpac in only his fourth race is going well – I’m in the pit doing tactics and we scored the skills of Damien trimming – a definite advantage. Further around the course we see Janette steering Arthur Crothers’ Kaotic sail into a hole and as we come around Goat Island – with only Madder ‘n Badder in front of us a shy kite gets us where we want to be – in the lead. Holding that lead is the key, and finishing in front of Kaotic and Madder ‘n Badder, it was an absolute joy to see Tim steer a J over the line first – a huge confidence boost for a new owner!
Balmain Sailing Club doesn’t disappoint, with fun and festivities on the water front – a great regatta atmosphere, life raft demos, rowing, BBQ and raffles. A few wines later…the only thing sending people home on a glorious Sunday afternoon was the 6pm tropical downpour – a delightful days racing. We were also definitely in good company, hearing J24 Legends Gary Geitz and Ian Bashfords names dropped in post racing story telling!! Well done BSC! Hopefully with a larger fleet, we will definately be there next year.
