At every DF65 regatta it seems the standard of racing jumps to a new level, and that was certainly the case at last week’s Queensland Championships. On paper it looked like the strongest fleet of DF65s assembled in Australia so far, and three sailors from RPAYC added to the forty-five boat fleet made up of sailors from every state, as well as from New Zealand.
The venue at Emerald Lakes, not far from Southport, is world class and the race management from the host club was also excellent.
After one seeding race competitors were split into A, B and C Fleets with the top four from B and C Fleets promoted after each subsequent race and the bottom four from A and B Fleets relegated after each race. It’s a cut throat format that rewards speed and consistency.
Greig Ebeling’s regatta didn’t start well with a rudder servo problem in the early races, but once sorted out he clawed his way up through B Fleet and had some races in A Fleet, while Phil Burgess and I bounced between A and B Fleet for most of the first day’s racing.
Such was the standard of racing that even the current Australian Champion, Nick Jerwood from Western Australia, had some excursions into B Fleet on the first day and could only manage one race win across both days of the regatta.
The second day proved to be much better for the three of us from RPAYC. Phil and Greig had some good races and bounced between A and B Fleet. I started the second day a bit slowly but once in A Fleet managed to stay there with some good results in the last three races of the regatta.
All three of us finished on the top half of the scoreboard overall with Greig Ebeling in 23rd and Phil Burgess in 20th while I finished in 14th, and surprisingly picked up 3rd place in the Master’s Division. I think it’s fair to say if we could eliminate a unforced errors all three of us might have finished in the top ten. Still, a solid result and we represented the Club pretty well.
Next up on the DF sailing circuit is the DF95 NSW Championship at Port Hunter in a few weeks time.
– Warwick Crossman
