International 14 Australian Championships at Black Rock Yacht Club - Day 5

Heat 5 and 6 were scheduled for a 12pm start, the forecast was for a building southerly breeze up to 15-20 knots. At 10am the breeze was already in at 15 knots. This was going to be a tough day at the office for the sailors.

Right on 12 the breeze began to build and was gusting 20 knots; everyone was pushing hard at the start and an individual recall was called with 3 boats choosing to restart. The heavy weights from Perth Dinghy Sailing Club; Brad Devine and Ian 'Footy' Furlong on Del Boca Vista had a great first leg and had built a healthy lead at the top mark with Graeme Everett and Andrew Wilson on Devine Intervention rounding 2nd and Lindsay Irwin and Andrew Perry on Ronstan/Irwin sails 3rd.

International 14 Australian championships Heat 5 & 6 - photo © Sonny Witton

The breeze continued to develop and was gusting to 24knots at times and the seas had risen to 1.9m with breaking waves, the teams would have felt more comfortable on a stand-up paddle board than an i14. The downwind legs were where the brave came unstuck with the large waves creating havoc and many cartwheels were to be had.

The trying conditions took its toll on the boats with Roger Blasse and Andrew Gilligan on Late Arrival returning to the beach with gear failure and hoping to make it back out for the second race.

The last downwind leg was a graveyard of boats falling over in the large seas, if you could keep it upright you were guaranteed a good result, Del Boca Vista had the race in control but misread the course and set off for another lap at the finish, Ronstan/Irwin Sails took their 2nd win from James Lanati and Mark Krstic on Sticky Fingers with Del Boca Vista realising their mistake and finishing 3rd.

International 14 Australian championships Heat 5 & 6 - photo © Sonny Witton

The breeze stayed up for Heat 6 but the strong conditions had taken its toll on the fleet with a number of boats pulling out prior to the start. There was plenty of action at the top mark with everyone in close proximity and boats struggling to lay the mark, there were a couple of close calls right on the mark with a few boats having to double tack right in front of oncoming traffic; a few penalty turns were to be had as a result.

International 14 Australian championships Heat 5 & 6 - photo © Sonny Witton

James Lanati and Mark Krstic on Sticky Fingers made it around unscathed in first position with a heated pack behind them. There were plenty of position changes as boats continued to go down in the large waves. Sticky Fingers showed their dominance and made it around the course without any errors and cementing their position in first place on the leaderboard.

Ronstan/Irwin sails were sitting second but had a costly swim just 200 metres from the finish and recovered to seventh over the line. Del Boca Vista once again sailed well in the strong conditions and finished second with David Hayter and Trent Neighbour on Wang Wang finishing third.

Results after Day 5:

International 14 Australian championships Heat 5 & 6 - photo © Sonny Witton