'Optis ready for action - 2009 East Coast Championships (Northbridge SC)'
Warrick Crossman
Northbridge Sailing Club did a wonderful job of hosting the East Coast Championships over the Queen's Birthday Weekend.
The 21 sailors and their families who made it to Northbridge enjoyed the idyllic venue, glorious weather and the hospitality of the team at Northbridge which provided sausage sizzles, a disco on Saturday night and even a raft up with a floating cappuccino boat for the volunteers out on the water.
Did we mention that they also ran some sailboat races?..lots of races!!
In total 13 races were completed, with on water coaching for the Green Fleet provided by Tom Brewer while Rob Brewer was available to the Open Fleet sailors.
Skill levels across both fleets improved noticeably as the weekend progressed. In the Open fleet Daniel Quinlan, Connor Campbell and James Farquharson sailed very well and were regularly among the leaders at the windward mark, and it was great to see Alec Brodie and Zac Beavan snapping at their transoms too.
James Brewer opened his regatta with wins in the first three races, which he added to across the weekend for a total of six heat wins.
Our favourite Victorian visitor, Melissa Hitchen-Haw, found her rhythm in Race 4 for the first of four heat wins. They must be getting some excellent coaching in Victoria because Mel was fast off the line in nearly every race and once she established a good position on the fleet she made very few tactical mistakes.
Brodie Crossman scored heat wins in the final race of both days and also lead Race 7 before being edged out on the line by James in one of the closest finishes we've seen at an Optimist regatta, too close for the spectators to call but James got it by a few centimetres.
Milly Bennett scored a win in Race 12, putting a big smile on her face. Milly spotted the breeze coming out of the right and sailed out to it before tacking onto starboard and sailing around the fleet which was working the centre and left of the course. It pays to keep your head out of the boat.
The regatta was still wide open going into the final race. James still lead but a fast finishing Melissa only needed to finish with three boats between her and James and the title was heading south again.
Race 13 had the potential to be unlucky for James, but it didn't turn out that way. Brodie grabbed the lead halfway up the last beat leaving Mel to finish in second place with James close behind in third.
So the regatta win went to James with Melissa in second and Brodie third.
Congratulations to Northbridge SC which ran a great regatta showcasing the very high standard of sailing available in the Optimist class. They did it in a relaxed way and got the fun factor just right.
Hopefully we'll be back at Northbridge for another Optimist regatta soon.
Sailing
