NSW Tasar States 2022 during Sail Port Stephens

by Jenny Sorensen 20 Apr 2022 10:25 BST 8-10 April 2022

Defending Champion Hugh Tait wins this year's NSW Tasar State Championship, this time with wife & crew Anna making it an extra special victory for this team. Amongst a fleet of 27 boats with competitors entering from around the nation, it was sailed in conjunction with 2022's Sail Port Stephens and wasn't it a doozy!

The 3 day Event threw competitors into a spin, dishing up pelting rain and gusty squalls in between solid racing in fresh winds, to 'no racing and no wind'. It challenged the best out of everyone, and the best we had - in fact 3 former Tasar World Champions.

One of these World Champion crews was VIC's Chris Dance & Peter Hackett, stepping off a National's win over New Year at Port Lincoln SA & keen to continue racing in competitive fleets in the lead up to 'Worlds in Seattle USA', in September.

Here steps in 'Hugh & wife Anna Tait' from Northbridge SC. They too had been choice favourites at Nationals haven led the fleet the first half of that week. Together with their resume of National & State Titles wins in other Classes including NS14's & MG14'S, they were not going to let this State Title pass them by. It was thus no surprise that both teams were level pegged at 1st on the leader board after Day 2's blinding 4 heats in solid E/SE's & rolling waves that made for plenty of errors & capsizes.

On previous Day 1, 3 heats were raced. Heat 1 saw the Tait's as well as many others, struggle in light air & a shift that trapped the bulk of the fleet on the wrong side of the course. Heat 1 became most competitors 'points drop". Not to be deterred however, the Tait's came back with wins in Heats 2 & 3, where squally winds & rain suddenly required thigh burning hiking upwind. To everyone's delight it also made for exhilarating and drenching rides on reaches & runs. Unofficially taking away the pointscore drop in Heat 1, the Tait's led after Day 1's racing by just 1pt over Chris & Peter, who shared equal points with 1986's Tasar World Champion from Canberra YC, Navy's Rick Longbottom sailing with Darryl Bentley.

Day 2's racing began with the fleet heading out through another squall to the race start. There were a few late launchers, some who made it to the start line in time and some who assisted their 'buddy teams' arriving back to shore de-masted. Most were back on the race course for the remainder of the day's heats however to enjoy more fast furious racing. Up in the top bunch there were no surprises with Chris & Peter picking up 2 x 1sts & 2 x 2nds, now equalling points with the Taits but falling to 2nd on countback. The Navy boys raced a 5th, a 3rd followed by a 1st, but then a 9th in Heat 7 due to an equipment problem on their classic older boat #790. The message from these experienced sailors is 'don't ever use any new or untested gear on race day... Their nearest rivals in 4th & 5th just 4 & 10 pts away respectively from Rick and Darryl, were GRSC's Gary & Robyn Ratcliffe (their overall qualifying 6 scores being 4,4,4,4,5,2) and VIC's Heather Macfarlane & Chris Payne (6,5,3,5,6,4).

So it was after Day 2's racing, a tie for 1st on points with one deciding day of racing to go. Well, wouldn't you know it, Day 3 greeted sailors with Port Stephens' infamous blue skies & glorious sunshine. The Race Committees of both the Bay Sailing Centre and Soldiers Point YC were however sceptical for any early racing with breeze of a certain strength needed to prevail to prevent boats floating out to sea with river current & tidal flow. Crews waited... and waited. A filling in light breeze eventuated early afternoon, the AP came down & boats went out in the direction of the Start line until the breeze faded. The horn blasted to officiate that all races were abandoned & the Regatta was finished. Hugh and Anna Tait became this year's NSW State Champions!

The event concluded with cheese, bickies & champagne in the boat park, before an official Presentation in the Bay Sailing Centre. A big thankyou for everyone who participated in the Event and to our Scratch, HCP & DIV winners who appear below, including this year's 'Best Performing Buddy team', an incentive for teams to share skills to improve abilities out on the race course. Thankyou also to the volunteers & Race Committees of the BSC & SPYC, the latter whom welcomed us to their Club on sunset for Sat night's 'seasonal award ceremony & farewell to Class stalwart Chris Parkinson'. Thank-you also to the wonderful support, prizes & Trophies donated by Sail Port Stephens, and to our life members who visited, spectated and told us some great tales from early Class times.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Boat Name	Helm	Crew	Club	State	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Pts
1	2925	Serendipity	Hugh Tait	Anna Tait	NSC	NSW	15	1	1	2	1	3	3	11
2	2980	Magic	Chris Dance	Peter Hackett	MSC	VIC	4	3	2	1	2	2	1	11
3	790	Timely Element	Richard Longbottom	Darryl Bentley	RANSA/CYC	NSW	5	2	3	5	3	1	9	19
4	2964	Ratz 3	Gary Ratcliffe	Robyn Ratcliffe	GRSC	NSW	12	4	4	4	4	5	2	23
5	2969	WAC	Heather Macfarlane	Chris Payne	SYC	VIC	18	6	5	3	5	6	4	29
6	2911	Another Roady	Peter Davies	Pia Lehtonen‑Davies	BSC	NSW	8	5	9	6	6	7	5	37
7	2848	Coollit	Robert Douglass	Xavier McLachlan	JBSC	NSW	3	10	7	8	7	4	OCS	39
8	2780	faking clever	Kerry Fyfe	Michael OBrien	WSC	NSW	2	11	6	13	9	9	7	44
9	2903	Vivace	Brad Stephens	Ann O'Brien	BSC	NSW	9	12	11	7	8	11	6	52
10	2977	Edge of Equanimity	John Balass	Heather Forton	BSC	NSW	13	7	12	9	12	8	13	61
11	2883	SMAC	Peter Davis	Karen Davis	RYCT	TAS	7	8	8	14	DNF	15	11	63
12	2952	Tasared Twice	Gavin Brown	Jennifer Overton	GRSC	NSW	6	13	17	11	10	16	15	71
13	2956	The Weekend	Neil Long	Wendy long	SPASC	NSW	19	15	10	10	11	14	12	72
14	2963	Sail a Vie	Blaise Vinot	Kate Vinot	HSC	VIC	10	17	13	12	16	18	10	78
15	2965	Indefensible	Bernie Streater	Jenny Sorensen	GRSC	NSW	1	16	DNF	DNS	14	13	8	80
16	2898	Rogue One	Meika Wright	Sean Sean Ahern	Newcastle	NSW	14	14	15	16	17	10	19	86
17	2874	Shaw Thing	Cameron Shaw	Eva Shaw	GRSC	NSW	16	21	14	15	15	12	14	86
18	1885	Elusive	Neil Temperley	David Temperley	DAC	NSW	21	OCS	16	17	19	22	18	113
19	2770	2770	John Stannard	Ingrid Vinot	SBSC	NSW	17	18	DNF	DNS	13	21	17	114
20	2727	Tango	Andrew McBride	Kirsty Graham	WSC	NSW	20	19	19	20	20	19	21	117
21	2885	Iceberg	Tony Stephens	Karen Ballantyne	NSC	NSW	23	20	18	18	22	20	20	118
22	2734	Something Cool	Malcolm Handel	Beatriz Calvete	NSC	NSW	DNC	DNC	DNC	19	18	17	16	126
23	2787	CZECH MATE	Grant Picman	Glen McArthur	DAC	NSW	25	23	DNF	DNS	21	23	22	142
24	900	flembouyant	paul robertson	jack corthals	PMSC	NSW	24	9	DNS	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	145
25	2888	Cruz'n	Mark Hooper	Pip Hooper	GRSC	NSW	11	DNF	DNS	DNS	DNC	DNC	DNC	151
26	2847	Slam Dunc	Bruce Litchfield	Sharon	GRSC	NSW	22	22	DNS	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	156
27	2192	Sweet Potayto	ian Taylor	William Taylor	HSC	VIC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	168