ARYA Australian Marblehead National Championship - Day 1
by Robert Gavin 22 Feb 2018 14:02 GMT
12-24 February 2018
Marblehead heat start - Condie gets the jump © Robert Gavin
Even though 18 International Marbleheads took to the water today only one was ever going to be the ARYA National Champion for 2018. Scott Condie, sailing his Indie, completely dominated racing and presented a master class of radio yachting racing.
He has fantastic concentration coupled with a great laid back style that allows him to relax at every opportunity – on top of his outstanding knowledge of sailing both tactically and technically. What a fantastic package – and a pity that there were no other skippers at the current championships good enough to challenge him.
The 2018 RM National Championships is being contested by 18 skippers including nine Tasmanians (more about them later), six Victorians, Greg Torpy from Queensland and Scott Condie from NSW.
Sailing was conducted in a stiffening but consistent sea breeze in the afternoon. Most skippers found the conditions true but some got themselves into trouble through bad decisions or lack of communication.
Locally, the Tasmanian contingent – who number half the fleet – did pretty well. Lisa Blackwood (35) and John Cole-Cook (12) completed the day on second and third with Jeff Byerley, Ray Joyce, Andrew Wardrop and Wayne Bhehrens in hot pursuit.