2020 Australian VX One Championship at Lake Macquarie Yacht Club

by Brett Whitbread 30 Jan 2020 11:10 GMT 25-27 January 2020

Wow! What an event. With the injection of new blood and the contribution and enthusiasm of experienced blood, a challenging racecourse with a huge range of breezes and you have sporting arena worthy of a National Championship.

Many thanks to all at LMYC, they put on a great show and Race Management completed nine accurate and fair races. It was great to again have an RO willing to put on what competitors wanted ensuring racing was of a premium.

The racing itself was spectacular, I've never seen so many finishes involving overlaps for first place and to be involved in the five-boat sprint for the line on the last day where the competitors couldn't even tell who got it (still think it was Slick) was very unique. To hear the whoops and yahoo's from all boats was incredible as all knew they were a part of something special. Well done Michael James and crew on that win.

Start lines were very competitive with many general recalls and mark rounding's were as always not for the faint-hearted.

We take our hats off to Alan Moffatt and the team of Ben and Josh Franklin who sailed Mack One to near perfection to claim his third National VX 0ne title. Alan was overcoming a back injury and suffered badly on the first day.

Here's a quick highlights package from the event:

• The assistance given around the boat park and in the marina by experienced members to hand out advice and tips (and spare parts), plus to ensure all boats were safe in the marina when the weather turned a little nasty during Sunday evening.

• Having Sandra Askew and crew Jason and Kyle from the USA join us for the second year to compete.

• The huge growth in female participation across the fleet. Watch out guys, the VX One is a class where both genders will compete equally.

• And does anything beat flying downwind at over 15 knots with competitors either side of you while you try and work out lay lines? Sunday was great for that.

With the standard of the fleet continually rising, the on water action was superb and Lake Macquarie was a fantastic theatre to showcase our Class. This was in addition to the camaraderie amongst the fleet onshore that made this event a huge success.

Bring on next year's Nationals at RQYS.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	Pts
1	AUS248	MACK ONE	Ben Franklin	RQYS	2	3	3	1	1	1	[6]	3	1	15
2	AUS155	COWABUNGA	Andy Patrick	PCSC	1	5	2	2	[10]	5	3.5	2	2	22.5
3	AUS247	SUPERVAX 24/7	Brett Whitbread	RQYS	5	1	1	[7]	7	6	3.5	1	3	27.5
4	AUS243	LATESHIFT	Peter Conde	RQYS	6	6	7	6	5	3	2	4	[10]	39
5	AUS283	KERB	Gregory Hall	RQYS	7	9	5	5	6	2	[11]	5	6	45
6	AUS278	SLICK	Brian Case	RGYC	4	2	4	13	8	[20]	5	8	4	48
7	AUS302	MCGEES PROPERTY	William Voerman	RQYS	8	[16]	6	4	3	4	15	6	11	57
8	USA277	FLYING JENNY	Sandra Askew	NYYC	10	4	8	9	4	9	9	[15]	7	60
9	AUS137	MISS JEKYLL	Dolly Divola	ASC	3	[20]	13	8	11	14	8	7	8	72
10	AUS244	THE BEAST 4	Michael James	RQYS	9	14	[17]	11	9	8	1	11	12	75
11	AUS291	180 DEGREES SOUTH	Andrew Northcott	RQYS	[20]	10	9	3	17	18	7	14	9	87
12	AUS139	MCCONOGHY PROJECTS	Craig Taylor	RQYS	13	8	10	[20]	18	16	14	12	13	104
13	AUS157	OVI ONE KENOBI	David Hewitt	RQYS	[19]	13	15	12	12	12	18	10	14	106
14	AUS146	FORMULA PYE	Peter Wilson	RMYCT	11	17	16	14	2	10	[23]	17	20	107
15	AUS141	SCAK VXA	Chris Dean	CSC	15	7	12	10	19	21	[22]	20	5	109
16	AUS303	TYPHOON	Genevieve Warlow	RQYS	14	12	14	[17]	16	11	17	16	15	115
17	AUS292	PINCH AND ROLL	Ray King	RQYS	12	19	20	16	14	19	12	9	[25C]	121
18	AUS246	RELAXN	Sam Allen	RQYS	16	[21]	19	15	20	13	10	13	19	125
19	AUS888	THE WEEKEND	Neil Long	LMYC	[22]	11	11	22	13	17	16	19	16	125
20	AUS184	WEAPON OF CHOICE	Fred Kasparek	CYC	21	18	18	[23]	15	7	13	18	17	127
21	AUS281	LET'S BE NATURAL	Ben Pfitzner	CYC	18	15	21	18	21	15	19	[22]	18	145
22	AUS242	ALLEGRO	David Smith	CYC	17	22	[23]	21	22	23	20	21	22	168
23	AUS112	MONGOOSE	Christopher Bland	MYC	[23]	23	22	19	23	22	21	23	21	174
24	AUS126	PUFF	James Nagel	CYC	24	24	24	24	24	[25R]	25C	25C	25C	195