Commodore Graham, Jennings reports:
Congratulations to our fellow 14 MHASC members who stormed around Salamander Bay for the Nationals over the past 4 days.
We were greeted on Day 1 with very solid ENE breezes. The following days had the breeze from the NE, then S, and finally SE – and it remained solid.
Special congratulations to our ‘cube winners’;
- Rob Lowndes (Jon West photo above) who won the Legends cube masterfully recovering from a torrid Day 1, closing out his win from Peter Heywood on the final day!
- Sean Feeney who finished 2nd in the ILCA7 GM to Brett Beyer and 6th overall in the ILCA 7 fleet despite not sailing on Day 1!
- Jeff Loosemore who finished 3rd in the ILCA7 GGM despite the conditions that tested ILCA7 sailors with another 20 kilos or more onboard!
- Vanessa Dudley who was the 2nd female in the big ILCA 6 Green Fleet.
Nick Skulander sailed strongly to finish 2nd Apprentice and 9th overall in the ILCA7’s. Nick had some great results included a 3rd overall in race 9.
Nick Alexander finished 5th in the ILCA7 Masters and Phil Bookallil made the top 10 in this larger fleet.
Steve Findlay and Vanessa Dudley had a close battle in the ILCA6 Green fleet finishing 14th and 15th overall in the GMs.
Diane Sissingh deserves an award for tenacity in strong breeze conditions that did not favour her. Diane found a great battle in the fleet with Justine from GSC and finishing ahead of her with a 26th overall in the GM fleet.
In the ILCA6 Yellow fleet the ever-smiling Peter Stephinson held off sustained challenges from me and we finished 11th and 12th in the GGMs. It’s good to see Peter back in fine form.
The ever-present David Edmiston was never far behind and finished 5th in the Legends with a strong 7th overall in the Yellow Fleet in the last race.
Lew Verdon followed with a 6th in the Legends, and Frank Walsh 7th.
The highlight of Frank’s regatta would undoubtedly be taking his grandson Dominic for his first ever sail on Sunday morning – a touching sight for us all.
Click here for the full results and here for Jon West Photography’s superb photos.
Kevin (& Sue) Phillips led a great team of volunteers running this event which as always included contributions from MHASC and Association Committee members David Edmiston (& Elaine), Rob Lowndes and Geoff Lucas.
Many thanks to the Australian ILCA Association, ILCA NSW & ACT Association, and the Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club for a great and memorable event.