NSW State Pointscore

[tonyquoll]

2009/10 NSW Paper Tiger Catamaran State Regatta Point Score

Report by Tony Hastings tonyquoll@yahoo.com

Otherwise known as the Traveller's Trophy, this series included:

- the Mannering Park Amateur Sailing Club 14ft Cat regatta, October 10-11 2009

- YMCA Sailing Club Canberra Multihull Championships, October 24-25, 2009

- Port Kembla Sailing Club's Kembla Klassic, November 28-29, 2009

- NSW PTCA State Championships, Toronto Amateur Sailing Club, January 23-24, 2010

- Koonawarra Bay Sailing Club 14ft Cat Regatta, February 13-14, 2010

The Mannering Park regatta was also the Windrush NSW State Titles, but amongst the 32 entrants only the local Paper Tigers raced. It was described as a good regatta, despite the lack of wind, with congratulations offered to Ian Marcovich, 1st Paper Tiger and winner overall.

The YMCA Canberra Multihull was held in highly variable, mostly very light, winds. The club set interesting figure 8 courses, which worked well because no matter what direction the wind swung to, there were still windward legs, downwind legs, and reaches. Being an ultra-lightweight skipper helped me win 5 of 6 races, while Steve Halliday consistently sailing well and gained ground when stronger puffs came through. Neil Waterman sailed well to win a race on an association owned boat, with, er, interesting design features.

What the previous regattas lacked in wind, Port Kembla made up for. Paper Tigers generally call off racing in 22knots wind, most clubs and other classes call it off at 25 knots, but when it gusted over 30 at Kembla, the race continued. There was spectacular action all over the course, as Nacras, Taipans, A-class, PTs and others all flew around at top speed, then flew in the air as they catapulted, or had massive damage in high impact collisions. Best PT was local Ralph Steadman, with good consistent results, while Ian Marcovich won both races he contested. Dave Stumbles showed he's a good a sailor as he is an event organiser by winning Race 1. I took over 2 hours to finish race 2 (the windiest), amazingly claiming a win as no other PTs finished.

The State Titles at Toronto was another light wind weekend, at which Ian and Kim Marcovich demonstrated the art of "sailing in the pressure". The series demanded good tactical decision making, in finding wind and advantageous shifts, avoiding holes, racing the other PTs, and avoiding other fleets of boats sharing the lake.

The Koonawarra Bay 14ft cat regatta was held in the worst weather of the series, with very light winds and showers, followed by rain. Maricat Sailor Chris Zahra won all 4 races. Amongst PTs, Wayne Eager sailed brilliantly to claim the series win, with Ian Marcovich making it a very close battle. Again I frustrated the hell out of Steve by using a lightweight's boatspeed to repeatedly overtake after a series of tactical blunders. Ralph was left wondering how to set a new sail with the tell-tales glued down in the rain, while sympathy went to Dave, Neil, Jon and the crew who gave up sailing to staff the rescue boats.

Congratulations to NSW PTCA State Pointscore winner: Ian Marchovich, sailing "Mojo". Rarely beaten in any race all season, Ian was a very deserving winner.

I demonstrated the value of finishing races no matter what weather or gear failures occur, claiming 2nd place on "Tigerdelic". The generally light winds of the series also helped in this result.

On equal points in 3rd Place was Steve Halliday on "Dipsi Danis", who sailed excellent tactical races.

Full results at http://nswptca.papertigercatamaran.org/images/2009-10NSWptscore.pdf

[This message has been edited by tonyquoll (edited 24 February 2010).]