VPTCA 07 Titles

[shwell]

Here is a commentary and the results from the VTPCA March 07 newsletter;

Bryan Anderson Wins 2007 Victorian Title

Congratulations to Bryan Anderson, who has won his third Victorian championship title. Held at Carrum Sailing Club over the Labour Day long weekend, the full program of five races was achieved with three races run on the last day after Sunday was blown out with 25+ knot winds.

Bryan’s winning scorecard comprised 2 wins and 2 seconds. Runner up was Mike Wold, who also won 2 heats, and third was Luke Stout. Peter Anderson won the other heat. The title was put beyond doubt by Bryan’s win in the last race, in 20+ knot conditions.

Fleet numbers were down because the Australian team boats had already been packed and are en route to New Zealand, with an early Easter on this year’s calendar. Top-ten members Bryan, Peter and Mike, who are not making the NZ trip, sailed their own boats, while defending 2006 champion Ben Deed borrowed Malcolm Kemp’s boat. David Anderson borrowed Jane Purbrick’s boat and Trent Godfrey dusted the mothballs off an elderly timber boat from the back of dad’s garage (some may remember Rod Priestley’s Marauder).

Particularly pleasing was the entry of four skippers new to the State Title event – David Burnett from Carrum, Gary and Alex Craig (his son) from Mokoan, and Michael Boswell from St Leonards – hope to see more of you all.

Heat 1 Saturday was started in a drifting NE zephyr and was abandoned during the first beat with the arrival of a mild southerly sea breeze. In the restart, Bryan took and early lead and was never challenged. Luke, Ben, Peter and Mike battled closely for the minor placings. Newcomers Gary and Alex Graig both showed some excellent speed in the light conditions, as is often the case with lake sailors. Michael Boswell also showed patches of good speed in his first outing.

Heat 2 Saturday (nominally back to back, but the fleet snuck ashore for a quick bite of lunch) started in around 10 knots which gradually eased to around 6 knots over what became a long hot afternoon. Peter Anderson took control and gradually ghosted away, with Luke taking second place from Mike and Bryan after finding favourable wind on the beach side of the course. The cold beer at the bar tasted REAL GOOD.

Heat 3 Monday morning – with a stiff southerly averaging around 18 knots, and with occasionally perplexing lulls and swings, this was a really exciting race. The wind knocked badly in the last minute of the start and Bryan had to re-round after failing to lay the port pin, while Ben and Mike just squeezed across. Mike took the knocked tack first while all rest of fleet tacked immediately into port. This put him first at the windward mark, with Bryan challenging and later leading. Mike regained the lead and held on to win closely from Bryan. Luke, Bob Ramsay, young Alex, Randal Garnham, and Ben all raced well and finished in a tight pack.

Heat 4 Monday (back to back) – After a cold wait for the second start, we took off again in similar 15-20 knot conditions, with Bryan first to the windward mark. On the fast reaching legs, Bryan and Mike exchanged the lead several times, with Mike eventually holding on to win. Ben pushed hard for third from Luke and Jason Dunsmore.

Heat 5 Monday (after lunch) – The wind was now at 20 knots and above, and Course 2 was set. With the tight reaching angles and leeward mark gate, this is a brilliant course layout for racing in hard conditions. After a delayed start caused by a Coast Guard boat on a rescue mission managing to entangle itself on the start boat’s anchor line (true!!), Jason really hit his straps and led from Bryan. The two gradually pulled away from the fleet, and in a minor lull, Bryan took the lead and held it to win the race and the title. Mike held off Peter for third. Only seven boats completed the last race.

Many thanks to Carrum SC, which did a good job on race organisation, and whose members were very friendly and helpful around the clubhouse and beach. Rigging and launching on the wide, fine sandy beach was easy, except for the heavy shore break when a strong westerly was blowing (the blown-out day).

Victorian Championship Results, Carrum Sailing Club, 10-12 March 2007
Place	Sail Number	Boat	Skipper	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Points, best 4
1	2958	Fly'n Bryan	Bryan Anderson	1	4	2	2	1	6
2	3050	Boy at Heart	Mike Wold	5	3	1	1	3	8
3	3031	Speed Demon	Luke Stout	2	2	3	4	5	11
4	3077	Just in Time	Peter Anderson	3	1	8	7	4	15
5	2117	Costabit	Jason Dunsmore	8	5	9	5	2	20
6	2930	Bobs Cat	Bob Ramsay	7	6	4	9	18S	26
7	3013	Rampage 2	Randal Garnham	10	12	6	8	6	30
8	2848	Watermelon	Gary Craig	6	7	11	12	7	31
9	3022	My Way	Ben Deed	4	18S	7	3	18S	32
10	3057	Hot Pursuit	Alex Craig	13	11	5	6	18S	35
11	2911	Imagine	Keith Deed	14	8	10	11	18S	43
12	1931	Ppolaris	mal Willis	9	9	18S	10	18S	46
13	2585	Marauda	Trent Godfrey	12	10	18S	18S	18S	58
14	3055	Katrick	Rick Stout	11	13	18F	18S	18F	60
15	2081	Wind Raker	Michael Boswell	15	14	18S	18S	18S	65
16	984	Black Label	David Burnett	16	18F	18F	18S	18S	70
17	2919	Garfield	David Anderson	18F	18F	18S	18S	18S	72

[This message has been edited by shwell (edited 16 March 2007).]

[tom]

Well done Bryan, and Mike for giving him a run for his money.

Also good on those skippers who had sent their boats to NZ for borrowing boats to compete, we had the same situation in SA.

(will post a report later on the SA titles)