Flying Fifteen Australian Championships at South of Perth Yacht Club
By Bernie Kaaks on 15 Jan8-13 January 2012Flying Fifteen Australian Championships on Perth's Swan River
All photos © Bernie Kaaks
Great Britain's triple world champion Steve Goacher teamed up with the winning skipper from last year's Flying Fifteen Australian Nationals, Matt Owen, to secure the Golden Anniversary National championship for the class. The union resulted in Owen winning an Australian title in successive years, one as helmsman and one as crew!
The championship was conducted on Perth's picturesque Swan River and hosted by the South of Perth Yacht Club. Conditions varied through the week, with fresh south westerlies early, which gave way to some very light easterly breezes later in the week as weather conditions were influenced by a cyclone hovering off the north west of the State, and finished in a reasonably steady 12 to 15 knot easterly on the final day.
The scores going into the final day were incredibly close – after discard, only a handful of points separated the top three teams, all British. At the start of the final day's racing, Goacher's assignment was simple. To win the title he had to ensure that he did not allow Alan Bax and Simon Childs to finish more than three places ahead of him. As it happened, both finished worse than seventh, so the day's race did not influence the scoreline for either boat. During the week, Goacher and Owen never finished outside the top 8, Alan Bax and Simon Childs never exceeded 10th. The best Australian crew were Adele Jackson and Dean McAullay, managing race wins both on day two and the fittingly, the final day. They finished fourth overall.
The result was a huge triumph for the three visiting British crews, who took out the first three placings in the regatta. The trio showed remarkable consistency, so much so that the worst placing for any of them was a fifteenth in the 58 boat fleet. Individual brilliance by several of the Australians from time to time was offset by the odd disaster in their scoreline and even with the benefit of two drops, they could not match the visitors.
Overall Results: (top ten)
1st 3988, Steve Goacher/Matt Owen, 17pts
2nd 3987, Alan Bax/Simon Childs, 20pts
3rd 3775, Mike Hart/Richard Rigg, 22pts
4th 3933, Adele Jackson/Dean McAullay, 27pts
5th 3781, David Tucker/Matt Summers, 30pts
6th 3881, Adam Hawkins/Ben Jones, 30pts
7th 3670, Graeme Lillingstone/Ed Repsevicius, 35pts
8th 3743, Greg Tonnison/Steve Roberts, 43pts
9th 3859, David Yu/Chris Nelson, 45pts
10th 3982, Chris Paterson/Rupert Leslie, 58pts
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