45th Hartley TS 16s Australian championships Drummoyne Sailing Club

7:26 PM Sun 3 Jan 2010 GMT

'The Ambulance winner Hartley TS16 National Championships 2009/2010' Annette Brennan Click Here to view large photo

After four years a New South Wales boat Ambulance finally reclaims the national title from the Victorian boat Tru- Blu ruining their chances of making it a record five wins in a row in the 45th Hartley TS 16s Australian championships.

Held in predominately light airs in the inner harbour off Drummoyne Sailing Club in Sydney, Ambulance skippered by Ken Marslew and his crew Nigel Short from the Kogarah Bay Sailing Club easily took out the title with four firsts and their worst heat a fifth.

Tru- Blu skippered Micheal Horvath from Williamstown Sailing Club was considered unbeatable having not lost a race. Skipper Ken commented that, 'when someone says they are unbeatable it is like saying rules are made to be broken nicely, what got us past them on the course was tactics and determination.

Ambulance led from the start in many of the heats but early favourite Uncle Roy from Drummoyne Sailing club skippered by Eric Parland surprised everyone on the last day getting third place overall with Charlie Brown from Drummoyne Sailing Club skippered by Justine Tornai finishing the series overall in fourth place..

Skipper Ken Marslew also commented, the last time they sailed against Tru-Blu he cleaned us up as soon as we got close to him he went up a gear. This series was much more competitive, no one boat dominated the results until the final day's sailing it was wide open.

Crewman Nigel Short said that they did a lot of work with John Hearne of Doyles sails to optimise our rig and sail plan. We seemed to be fast upwind, nothing to do with the skipper picking the right way to go of course!

Association rules state that a boat cannot receive both scratch and handicap prizes so The Ambulance accepted the scratch trophy allowing Silver Fox to take the third place prize on handicap.

by Annette Brennan