Musto Skiff 2015 Australian Nationals at Mounts Bay Sailing Club - Overall

Jon Newman taking the gun on the last race of day 1 at the Musto Skiff 2015 Australian Nationals © Steve Schneider

Jon Newman Australian Champion again

The day that started with no wind and ended with loads of wind. This was the last day of the Australian Nationals. Current Australian Champion Jon Newman is the winner again. A good job done by the race committee today.

The race committee decided to sail on Melville Water West, because the World Championship will be held there as well. So it started with a chill-out session on shore. Waiting for the Tornados to finish their racing and waiting for the sea breeze coming in. So a good moment for the sailors to fix or clean their boats and discuss tactics.

About 2.30pm the 4th race of the Australian Nationals went off. At the start the boats of Dave Poston and Thor Schoenhoff try to kiss each other, so they both capsized. And went off a little later than the rest. During the race the wind increased a lot, rising to 22 knots gusting 27. A lot of the guys decided to not use the spinnaker downwind. I saw amazing capsizes on gibes without the kite. Marcus Hamilton managed to stay alive and took the win on the first race.

Ron Barnes decided to retired the race and took his mainsail of the boat. He let himself drift with the wind back to Mounts Bay Sailing Club. Unfortunately there was nobody to pick him up at the club, so he drifted too far and ended up at the Dinghy Sailing Club 1 mile further on at the end of the bay.

The second race, fifth of the series, the waves where even bigger than the first race. The race went off with the U-flag again. Thor Schoenhoff did a great job by winning the race, before Jon Newman and Marcus Hamilton. The rescue boats had a big job towing boats into the harbour and get everybody clear. David Taylor managed to break his boom and from Colin Turner his bracket went of his mast, so his mast came down. Fortunately everybody went safe from the water. And with a beer, a hotdog and nacho's all the sailors enjoyed having a chat and the big stories are coming out. The prize giving will be held tomorrow during the opening of the Worlds.

Overall Results:

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