Festival of Sails - Day 3
by Danielle McKay & Lisa Ratcliff 25 Jan 2014 11:48 GMT
21-27 January 2014
Australia Day decider for Melges champion
For the third consecutive day Harry Melges and his crew of Star (USA) held off the rest of the one-design fleet and have inched closer to victory at the Gill Melges 24 Australian Open Nationals.
In gusty 15-20 knot south to sou'east winds in Stingray Bay on the eastern shore of Geelong's Corio Bay, Melges consolidated, picking up a fourth win from eight races plus a third and seventh.
With one drop coming into play and today's first, second and fourth results, Flavio Favini, the class' 2013 European champion and 2001 world champion, and his Melges Blu Moon (SUI) move into second overall. Favini is eight points from Melges and 12 points clear of Australia's Nathan Wilmot on Melges – Asia Kaito.
The 2014 Australian Open Nationals Melges 24 champion will fittingly be decided tomorrow, Australia Day, when the 23-boat fleet contest their final two races.
From the large contingent of South Australian Melges 24s contesting the nationals, Rob Duessen's Red Mist is the highest on the ladder, thanks to a second in race eight.
Sailing 505s, Sharpies and FBs makes Duessen more of a dinghy sailor than a sports boat aficionado but Duessen is enjoying the steep learning curve.
"I have a good crew with me and we are learning a lot about Melges racing," said Duessen tonight. He also credited the Australian Melges 24 sales and distribution centre, Melges Asia – Pacific.
The South Australian team comprise seven Melges 24s from the Adelaide Sailing Club at Glenelg. Hamish Nicol from one of the SA boats Adrenaline says the Melges fleet has grown rapidly over the past two to three years.
"The Melges 24 is particularly suited for the exciting sea breeze conditions off Adelaide where the regular 18 to 22 knot winds gives excellent downwind runs, and waves are particularly suited to getting the Melges surfing."
In the build up to the Australian Open Nationals and next week's Gill Melges 24 World Championship the Adelaide fleet got themselves organised and held three three-day regattas over a five week period, plus a number of training clinics.
"The outcome was the fleet became increasingly competitive with all boats enjoying moments and all regattas being closely contested," said Nicol.
"We are excited to be rubbing shoulders with people competing on the world stage, it makes us really feel part of an international fleet and we are delighted those folks have made the trip."
Sailing's elite helm debutants to success
Debutant yachts Patrice and Ichi Ban are bringing their older counterparts to their knees in the grand prix racing series at the Festival of Sails, claiming two spots on the podium on the second day of racing.
Tony Kirby's four-month-old Ker 46 Patrice sits atop the Optimum Time Racing Series Division 1 IRC leader board after scoring two emphatic wins from three windward/leeward races today, while fellow racing identity Matt Allen's three-month-old Carkeek 60 Ichi Ban finished third overall.
In second place is Black Betty, which makes owner Gary McNally's massive 3,500 kilometre trip across the Nullarbor Plain from Perth to Geelong all the more worthwhile.
It was unchartered water for Patrice and Ichi Ban today, neither yacht having competed in an inshore racing series since their baptisms late last year.
Kirby said it was nerve-wracking hitting the water today with the prospect of finally finding out just what his carbon-racer was capable of.
"We got faster as the day went on," Kirby said. "It was very close racing. It certainly won't be over until the final day. I think if we can keep together and keep learning the boat we can only go faster from here."
In the Optimum Time Racing Series Division 2 it was necessary to win three of three races to claim the top spot among a fleet that is arguably the hottest-under-the-collar of all on Geelong's Corio Bay.
The skipper who made the three wins possible was Bruce McCraken aboard his stunning Beneteau 45 First Ikon.
The defending Audi IRC Class B national champion reckons it came down to his crew's team work, and lots of concentration on a course with southerly winds gusting in excess of 25-knots and shifting 40 degrees.
"You can't get any better than that," McCraken said. "We've been together now for three seasons and the crew's pretty much been the same, plus seven of us are related so it creates a good mix.
"But you can't take anything for granted, it's fierce out there, which is great because we're all competitive and it drives us."
There was a different kind of pressure on the shoulders of the Morris Finance Sydney 38 One Design Class Australian Championship winner, Challenge.
Challenge skipper Chris Jackson was asked to step into the role in the absence of Mark Bulka, who today won the Contender World Championship.
Jackson did Bulka proud, jumping from third this morning to first overall on the points ladder despite blowing the spinnaker in the last race of the day.
"There's a bit of pressure for sure when you're stepping into the shoes of a world champ," Jackson said.
"I wondered if it might all be lost when the chute blew up into bits. The heart was in the mouth, but we just reacted quickly and kept on going."
Jackson credits a lot more than just crew work for the team's success; citing the yacht's owner Lou Abrahams, Sydney Hobart veteran and racing stalwart.
"It was just fantastic we were able to give Lou that news and I think that's why the boat's so well sailed, because everyone's sailing for the one special person."
Penfold Audi Sport skippered by David Ellis leads the Optimum Time Racing Division 3 series on IRC, followed by Jason Close's White Noise and Timothy Fox's The Red Boat.
Meanwhile in the Fuso Trucks Multihull Series Malice and Morticia continued their fierce on-water slug-fest today, with Malice breaking the pair's two-way tie with a line honours win that shot them in to the lead overall on corrected time. Shaun Fishley's Frassld rounds out the multihull podium.
The multihulls and Racing Series division 3 will wind up tomorrow, while divisions 1 and 2 will complete their series on Monday.
Scarecrow among the cruising flock
A boat from the 1950s supposedly designed to sell more plywood in the USA and named after a Native American symbol is dominating Cruising Division 2 at the Festival of Sails on the penultimate day of competition.
Two wins from two starts has Tony Minchin's local Thunderbird, Scarecrow, ahead of the rest. With more than 90 years' combined Festival of Sails between Minchin and his two sons Matt and Stuart it's not surprising that they know these waters well.
A cool and gusty 15-20 knot SSE breeze and stacks of afternoon summer sunshine was the perfect sailor's recipe for the Club Marine cruising division's passage race today, Saturday 25th January 2014.
Yesterday's win in the 34 nautical mile Melbourne to Geelong passage race, Scarecrow's series opener, came after a shaky start.
"We were run over at the start by a 50-footer which spun us around by our rigging and dragged us backwards over the start line. We unclipped then found we were facing oncoming traffic with no rights," recalls Matt.
From there the Minchins rallied to find clear air and beat 36 others in their division, including five other Thunderbirds, on corrected time.
Father Minchin jokes that the winning formula is him sitting and providing moveable ballast while his sons sail the boat. In the beginning it was him in charge teaching his sons the ropes from age five.
There is one major glitch for the family with so many on hot on their heels. Stuart was due to return home to Canberra tomorrow with his family - including his children who are Optimist sailors and the next generation of crew - but with today's top result plans are now up in the air. Tony is circumspect about the chance to finish off the series; Stuart is feeling the pressure of a top position.
The results tell a similar story in Cruising Division 1. Paul Lindemann's Beneteau 50 Biddy-Hu II from the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria finished day two with the perfect result of two points, five points clear of the Bavaria 44 Summer Wind.
"Super Saturday" is how the event's Principal Race Officer Denis Thompson describes the day when every race official, volunteer, support vessel and competitor is out on Corio Bay and the outer harbour before returning windswept to Royal Geelong Yacht Club to swap yarns and enjoy the ongoing entertainment program into the evening.
There are multiple facets to running an event of this size and there's plenty happening behind the scenes with marks to be inflated, support vessels to be refuelled and lunches to be made daily for the near 90 race officials and on-water volunteers.
The safety auditors for the RGYC's major event and the largest keelboat regatta in the Southern Hemisphere have been busy conducting spot checks to make sure owners meet the specifics of their safety category.
"The Royal Geelong Yacht Club takes safety seriously and a number of spot checks have been undertaken so auditors can make sure boat owners comply with their relevant safety category," said Thompson.
"I'm delighted to say that so far every boat has met the standard set plus auditors have been well received with owners happy to show that they comply with the regulations.
"It has rippled through the fleet that RGYC is doing spot checks and these will continue through to the end of the regatta," Thompson advised.
The final points grab ends tomorrow for the majority of the 14 divisions racing, the largest cruising divisions sailing a day race then a final twilight race before a huge line-up of bands hit the RGYC band in the evening to celebrate Australia Day.
The Racing Series will spill over into Monday, 27th January 2014.
Sporties on the edge
What do you get when you cross a yacht with a dinghy? It's not a joke but rather the definition of a sports boat offered by one of the enthusiasts competing in the eclectic division at the Festival of Sails.
The parametres for a sports boat is a maximum length of 8.5m and width of 3.5m. Other than that it's pretty much an open book when it comes to design, giving the inventors a chance to develop and implement their ideas.
For a fraction of the cost of campaigning a big boat with large crew numbers, sports boat sailing offers ripping fun say devotees.
Sports boats started emerging among the trailerable fleet in the 1980s and became more specific in the 1990s when cabin tops and fitted out interiors disappeared. In 1994 the Melges hit the market, an out-an-out racing machine that found a niche.
Now there is a variety of sports boats available; Thompsons, Vipers, Shaws, Stealths, Elliotts, J70s. Something to suit all ages, weights and wallets.
Pushing the boundaries of the class is Mark Buchbach from Queensland. His full carbon part Nomex Stealth 850 called Raptor fully rigged and with the outboard ridiculously weighs less than 500kg.
With two days remaining of the Festival of Sails Maui Jim Sports Boat division series, Raptor is leading on SMS corrected time by one point from veteran Noel Leigh-Smith and Viper.
"We had a 7m Stealth and struggled to be in front," said Buchbach. "To professionally build an 8.5m version would have cost hundreds and thousands of dollars so I decided to build it at home with mates who are boat builders.
"My garage wasn't big enough so we knocked out the back wall and bolted a shed to the house. Then I had a 9m shed to work in."
Buchbach is a livewire. He happily tells of the time they set the Stealth's floor panel on fire heating the garage to 125 degrees.
"When we were making the flat panels we got a bit carried away. I left the room for a few minutes and when I came back down the shed was ablaze. We were picking up bits of burning carbon and throwing them into the backyard."
Then there was the experience of the floor of the house contorting as the boat cooked underneath."Because of the resin we were using we had to post heat it, which meant sealing and heating the garage up to 65 degrees using heaters. The whole floor of the house was moving."
Upwind Raptor's sail area is 45 square metres upwind and downwind it's less than 90. Because it's so powerful the Stealth doesn't need much sail. And they rate well, which wasn't intentional given it was all about being the leader.
Raptor's optimum is 5-6 knots of wind and flat water. There's loads of horsepower in the low range says the owner, but it makes turning the corners tricky.
"At low speed at the corners we are a bit sketchy," admits Buchbach. "We are tacking with more crew weight than the boat weighs which means moving a huge mass from side to side. We don't really have a bulb so our righting moment comes from our crew weight."
Raptor, named after a Stealth aeroplane of the same name, was launched in June 2012 following a 20 month build.
Buchbach took the Brendan Egan hull design and tweaked the boat to exactly what he wanted. He was working with the sailmakers at North Sails on the deck layout a year prior to the boat hitting the water.
The first Stealth 850 has won trophies at the QLD states, Airlie Beach Race Week and Mooloolaba winter nationals.
For the Festival of Sails Buchbach has gathered a top six-man crew including well known Etchells sailor Mark Bradford and other big boat sailors from Peter Harburg's Queensland 70-footer Black Jack.
"I'm lucky all my mates are good sailors. You can't just invite people from the bar to go sailing on this boat," adds Buchbach, who since the boat build has started working in industrial composites.
He's looking after traveller and running the boat and Bradford is driving. "I like talking a lot so it's easier for me not to drive," Buchbach says, smiling.
Darren Spence is sailing with Cam Rae's Geelong based Shaw 650 Monkey Business and is former president and now digital director of the Australian Sports Boat Association. He also owns a share in Melges – Asia Kaito, the best placed Melges 24 at the Australian Open Nationals, also on at Geelong, with Olympic sailor Nathan Wilmot at the helm.
Spence says 'sporties' are a mixture of guys like Buchbach who build a radical boat right on the edge, then there's guys buying production Vipers and going for a sail while the J70s tend to draw the more mature boat owner.
From a sailor's point of view, sports boats are a bit of everything but the easiest explanation is a cross between a dinghy and a yacht says Spence. "The class is built on the philosophy of going fast for minimal dollars; we can buy a boat for $18-20 grand and go out for a blast.
"There used to be a yobbo element amongst the sporties, but now the boat builders and sail makers are paying attention and spending time with the fleet. It's developing into a group who still go to the bar at night but we have decent sailors, and owners are mobile and prepared to travel the events we are creating."
Full results can be found here.