From our PRO Andrew Cox:
Saturday showed us how life was meant to be -- a beautiful sunny Sydney summer afternoon with a honking "north-easter". Of course, with Pat Levy away at the Worlds, it was never going to be anything else.
It blew 19-26 knots, oscillating between the dominant left gradient and the right sea breeze. An outgoing tide cooperated to ensure plenty of exciting wave action.
Despite the conditions, we had a reduced fleet (people were probably planning their Valentine's Day). There were 8 ILCA 7s, 21 ILCA 6s, and 2 ILCA 4s, for a respectable fleet of 30+ boats, before a swag of retirements in the second race.
Brett Beyer made a guest appearance, putting in his one-and-only day of training before the Masters Worlds. One sailor quipped, "Imagine all the things that would go wrong if we only sailed once a year". However, Brett did not seem to have too much trouble with that.
Having said that, Geoff Kirk put in a credible effort, finishing within reach of Brett in both races.
The results for ILCA 7 were R7: Geoff Kirk, Yves Stening, Steven London (with scratch placings of Geoff Kirk, Craig Sheers, Yves Stening); R8: Geoff Kirk, Craig Sheers, Steven London (with scratch placings the same).
The results for ILCA 6 were R7: Scott Finlayson, Jim Dounis = James Tudball (with scratch placings of James Tudball, Quentin Burns, Alistair Sutherland); R8: Quentin Burns, Alistair Sutherland, Ian Alexander (with scratch placings reversing Ian and Alistair - less than a metre apart).
The results for ILCA 4 were R7: Sara Bruce (Diana and Julian also sailed ILCA 4 but are handicapped in ILCA 6); R8: no competitors.
Thanks to our race management team for a well-managed day of racing, coordinated by Andrew Cox (PRO) and Ryan Aldrich (LTRaR), with assistance from the handicappers, Daryl Lawrence, and Geoff Boscoe, who generously continue to forego their own racing to train our race management teams in the use of the new scoring app.
On-water safety was provided by John Chesterman (COTD), Ben Byford (Co-COTD), and Robert Bruce (RIB reserve). It was an active day for them, with multiple capsizes, fatigued sailors needing assistance, a couple of tows back to shore, and a concerning collision from a Farr 30 competing at SASC that failed to keep clear of a capsized ILCA 7, resulting in the ILCA 7 rig being sheered off at the deck - very dangerous and irresponsible!
One postscript from the race management team -- the new scoring app relies on sailors signing on with correct sail numbers and in the correct class. Please remember to sign on. It makes a huge difference to our volunteers.
