Sabot sailors,
Happy New Year, and welcome back to sailing on the bay post Christmas. The National Championships are over – see full report below – and capped a brilliant season so far for the Victorian Sabot sailors. Coming up in 2007 is the Lidgett Cup as usual in February and the Victorian State Championships at Black Rock YC in March/April – more details of both still to come, but see Calendar for dates – so lots to still look forward to. There are also a few excellent boats for sale from those about to depart the class – if you want some help picking one that is right for you give me a call on 0417-832000.
The 43rd Australian Sabot Championships – Australia’s largest junior regatta
In an unplanned, but pleasing, symmetry of events, Tim Hannah of Victoria collected his trophy for first place in the Accor Premiere Vacation Club 43rd Australian Sabot Championships from Mark Turnbull OAM, the last Victorian to win this prestigious event in 1989, recently appointed Chairman of Sail Melbourne, and Sydney 2000 Olympic 470 Champion. Coincidentally, 1989 was also the last year that Victoria won the Senior Teams Trophy – a feat also repeated for the first time this year. Tim is in the habit of setting firsts back in 2004 he became the first sailor to win both the Junior and Senior divisions in the Australian Minnow Championships, the first of his two Minnow Championships – clearly a name to watch in the future if his predecessors in the Sabot are anything to go by.
Melbourne’s Port Phillip Bay was awash with small sails as it played host this year to Australia’s largest junior regatta, the Accor Premiere Vacation Club 43rd Sabot Championships. The Championships combined with the Kevin and Ross Wilson 2007 Sabot Week Regatta drew a fleet of 150 boats and 182 competitors from around Australia to Sandringham Yacht Club, comprising 118 one-ups (Seniors) and 32 two-ups (Juniors). Whilst number were slightly down on previous years, these numbers again ensure the class retains its tag as Australia’s largest (and arguably most competitive) Junior class championship. This year’s Sabot Championships were sailed as part of 2007 Sail Melbourne. Next year the Championships return to Sydney Harbour for the first time for twelve years under the stewardship of Vaucluse Amateur 12ft Sailing Club.
Pre-national’s skills training in all states had concentrated on how to cope with Port Phillip Bay’s strong afternoon sea breezes and choppy waters only to have Melbourne at her fickle finest dish up some of the lightest winds and flattest water possible. As Melbourne’s temperatures soared and the smoke haze from recent bushfires clung close to the water light weather sailing skills came to the fore. Mark Turnbull commented during the closing ceremony “despite the weather conditions, in regattas the best sailors always come to the top.” The sea breeze only kicked in one afternoon, and even then somewhat halfheartedly, building to around 19 knots by five o’clock. As a result, Australia’s top rated race management team of Kevin and Ross Wilson, who were also patrons of the accompanying Sabot Week regatta, were put under some pressure to ensure a fair series with a mix of variable northerly and southerly breezes. Nevertheless, the morning starts for Sabot Week and afternoon starts for the Championships ensured long days on the water for the race management team – “It’s been as tough as running a full Olympic and Invited Classes Regatta” mused Kevin over a beer at the end of one long day, extended to take in an extra heat to take advantage of the solitary sea breeze day offered.
As such, the conditions suited the lighter sailors but ensured close racing with five different Championships heat winners in the updated ten race format this year. With the shorter course format, buoy roundings consequently got very busy for those outside the top ten.
Sabot Week:
The Sabot Week Regatta is held at the same time as, and for those that failed to qualify in the top twelve in their state teams for, the Championships. It remains a great introduction for the kids to series racing, following the same format as the Championships and, with 78 boats competing in both Senior and Junior divisions, a serious competition. Ethan Atkins SNSW won the Senior Sabot Week by a margin of 13 points from fellow SNSW sailor Ashlen Rooklyn. Third, and first girl, was Madison Kennedy from SQLD in Bullet Proof. Atkins came 13th in his state selections but is aiming to qualify next year for the Championships. With four sailors in the top ten, SNSW could be a team to watch next year.
The Dahl sisters, Emily and Sarah, from SQLD took first place in Junior Sabot Week from cousins Greta Quealy and Elliot Collins, with local Victorians Oliver Kalpokas and Zac O’Connell reveling in the windier conditions at the end of the regatta to take third overall.
Championships:
But all eyes were on the Senior Championships, where it was thought Southern Queensland could repeat their successes of the previous year at Yeppoon. It quickly became apparent that this was not going to be the case, and notwithstanding the lack of local breeze and wave, the Victorians showed strong early form. On day one, Tim Hannah, YV Victorian Junior Sailor of the Year, won heat 1 in Synergy, Sean Ott, hot pre-Nationals prospect from Southern Queensland won heat 2 in Guided Missile, but after two heats they both jagged behind Victorian John Linacre who had posted a second and a fifth.
Day two provided the lightest wind heat 3 which was won by one of the heaviest sailors, Nick Taylor from Victoria in Dark side of the moon, proving once again that you didn’t have to be light to win. In slightly strengthening breeze, Tim Hannah won heat 4 from Sean Ott and Victorian George Davies in Grin ‘n bear it.
Day three was another light wind specialists’ present with George Davies winning both heats 5 and 6 from Sean Ott.
Day four was the day the sea breeze eventually arrived with some new faces at the top end of the highly talented fleet. Sean Ott took heat 7, and MikeWalden from Tasmania took heat 8 in XLR8. As the forecast for the final day remained poor, the race officers made the decision to race an extra heat in the building breeze to get one heat ahead of program, and the ever reliable Tim Hannah took the third heat of the day, heat 9.
As luck would have it, with only one heat to sail on the final day, competitors were fully able to fully concentrate on single heat positioning and not worry about having to do recalculations between heats. The sailors went into a nail biting heat 10 with Sean Ott leading Tim Hannah by 3 points, with George Davies a comfortable third. Apart from the possibility of 1st and 2nd changing places, third to sixth were separated by only 11 points at this stage, and with continued light wind forecast all these places could still change. Tim Hannah stormed to an early race winning lead, whilst Sean Ott was struggling in around 10th position – Tim appeared to have it in the bag. A late wind shift saw George Davies sneak through to win on the final beat, a shift which also helped Sean get up to 7th at the line. Tim’s 2nd place gave him the title however.
The Junior Championships were convincingly taken out for the third year running by Matthew Graham NNSW in Back in Black albeit with a new crew this year, Blake Robson. Matthew’s old crew Vardon Robson NNSW took second overall in Thunderstruck with Lindsay Pike. Third were Natalie & Trevor Koreman SQLD in The Razor’s Edge.
Gear:
A wide range of sailmakers, rigs and foils remain in evidence in this restricted class and were spread throughout the top 20. Pleasingly, recent tightening of measurement tolerances over several years has ensured most of the top boats are now a very similar hull shape – part of a gradual shift to a common platform whilst still allowing flexibility atop so the kids learn about sail shape and rig control, and their contribution to boatspeed. This has contributed to the fact that all the latest winning gear is now freely available on a production basis. Tim sported a Hooper sail on an Almast, and used production Freddie Foils on a Van Munster hull – four of the top five Championships finishers overall were using hulls produced by Van Munster Boatbuilders from Morisset in NSW, builders of world renowned 505s, 16’ and 18’ skiffs. I will be posting a spreadsheet fully detailing the gear used by the top 20 soon on this website.
Final results:
Championships
Championships Seniors:
1st Tim Hannah Synergy VIC 1,8,9,1,4,4,6,2,1,2 2nd Sean Ott Guided Missile SQLD 12,1,5,2,2,2,1,3,8,7 3rd George Davies Grin ‘n Bear it VIC 4,11,8,3,1,1,9,13,21,1 4th Sam Ellis Slippery little sucker NNSW 20,4,4,22,12,6,4,4,5,18 5th Nick Taylor Dark side of the Moon VIC 9,10,1,19,9,15,5,9,4,14 6th Shelley White Stay Tuned SQLD 5,9,6,6,11,9,2,15,23,27 7th Michael Walden XLR8 TAS 3,22,38,11,13,16,14,1,3,6 8th Tim Dey NOS NNSW 29,2,29,66OCS, 6,5,3,5,2,15 9th Mitchell Kennedy Pure Magic SQLD 23,30,2,8,15,14,13,8,10,3 10th Stephen Collings Predator VIC 18,19,48,4,3,12,19,12,13,4.
Championships Senior Teams Trophy : Victoria
Championships Juniors:
1st Matthew Graham & Blake Robson Back in Black NNSW 1,1,3,1,1,1,1,1,2 2nd Vardon Robson & Lindsay Pike Thunderstruck NNSW 3,2,1,2,2,2,2,20OCS,4 3rd Natalie & Trevor Koreman The Razor’s Edge SQLD 2,9,6,6,3,4,3,2,3 4th Aidan & Lily Geck Warpaint SQLD 4,5,4,4,4,8,6,4,1 5th Jack Sherring & Tom Signato Thunderstruck SQLD 13,4,2,5,5,3,7,5,10 6th Lewis Brake & Lachlan Robba Airwave SQLD 6,8,12,3,9,9,8,6,6 7th Reece & Dylan Baguley Too Salty SQLD 5,7,5,7,10,10,5,7,18 8th Ravi Baratha Raj & Tom Southwick Measured Madness SNSW 9,3,10,11,6,6,11,8,11 9th Bradley Leicester & Jamison Sexty Afterburn NNSW 11,10,18,15,8,14,4,3,8 10th Klaus & Eva Lorenz Insanity 2 NQLD 7,6,15,10,20,5,14,20,7.
Championships Junior Teams Trophy : Southern Queensland
Sabot Week
Sabot Week Seniors:
1st Ethan Atkins Saboteur SNSW 15,1,2,1,6,4,3,4,2,3 2nd Ashlen Rooklyn Scared Persona SNSW 19,3,17,5,2,2,19,2,1,1 3rd Madison Kennedy Bullet Proof SQLD 4,2,10,2,15,1,15,1,8,10 4th Jason Voyer I Spy VIC 1,4,1,16,1,11,1,8,22,13 5th Felix Grech Shake a leg SNSW 2,10,3,11,3,19,2,6,15,12 6th Nic Jones Material Girl SQLD 12,7,20,4,5,7,21,5,7,9.
Sabot Week Juniors:
1st Emily & Sarah Dahl Mydas Touch SQLD 1,7,1,2,6,1,1,2,2,3 2nd Greta Quealy & Elliot Collins Fast ‘n Furious SNSW 2,4,2,1,3,2,5,3,3,2 3rd Oliver Kalpokas & Zac O’Connell Double Black VIC 3,1,4,4,4,5,2,5,1,1 4th Chelsea Powe & Meg English Go Hard NNSW 7,2,3,3,7,4,3,4,5,5 5th Adam Bloomfield & Imogen King White Ice SNSW 9,6,7,5,1,3,6,1,6,6.
Sabot Week Senior Teams Trophy : Southern Queensland
For full results see Results on the main menu above.
Yours in sailing
The Pres’
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