Skandia Geelong Week Sports Boats winners Mako-Melges

10:15 AM Sun 25 Jan 2009 GMT

'Skandia Geelong Week 2009, Melbourne (VIC) - 24/01/09 -
MAKO MELGES' Andrea Francolini / Skandia Click Here to view large photo

They established themselves as a team to beat from day one and now Heath Walters and his crew on Mako-Melges are proudly wearing the coveted 'Bundy Blue' Henri Lloyd jackets after winning the Bundaberg Sports Boats Championship at Skandia Geelong Week.

The winning team comprised Walters, his brother Murray, John Sariano, Rob Brewer, and 'tactician and inspiration' 14 year old James Brewer, a talented sailor who was recently selected to race at the Optimist Worlds in Brazil later this year. 'James is our 'everywhere man,' he calls the pressure for us and he's great at looking ahead' said Walters.

'He's in charge of speed on the boat and he loves to rev us up when he feels the boat's not going as fast as he thinks it should.' James' dad Rob joked that he just came along for the ride saying 'They actually asked James to sail the regatta and he asked if he could bring along his Dad!'

The exciting rides have inspired James to put his hand up for a Melges 24 in coming years. 'They're heaps faster than Opti's' he said 'great fun to sail on.' Walters, who builds Melges 24's at North South Yachting in Gosford said, well he can join the queue, there are 15 already in Australia with plenty of inquiries for more.'

Run in conjunction with the Australian Sports Boat Association National Championship, the Skandia Geelong Week sports boat fleet contested eight races over three days using a measurement-based handicap system.

The SMS system, developed by the Australian Sports Boat Association has been attracting attention from similar clubs around the world and proved its worth again at this regatta.

Heading into the final day of racing with a significant lead, all the Mako-Melges team had to do was maintain their high standard to secure the championships.

Conditions varied from little wind to more than enough and on-course carnage was rife. Three broken masts in an original starting fleet of 22 boats resulted in the retirement of MJR Outrage and the two South Australian entries; Game Over and Bohica.

Noel Leigh-Smith's Bethwaites 8 Vivace led the group around the course, taking line honours in all eight races.

First race on the final day began in an 8 knot breeze with Thomson 8 Zippier proving to be as good as her name. Second behind Zippier on corrected time was Thompson 7 Salsa Lou, a former winning boat at Geelong, now renamed by owner John Lloyd and steered by Cameron Williams, a multiple Skandia Geelong Week sports boat title winner.

Third on handicap was Heath Townsend from Western Australia with his Melges 24 OD What Tha.

Once the sea breeze kicked in at 2pm the fleet enjoyed slightly more challenging conditions in a 12-15 knot southerly for the second race. The Works, an Elliot 770, was forced to retire with yet another broken mast but everyone else enjoyed a nice fast ride.

Some cautious kite drops stole valuable seconds from some otherwise fast runs and once again Mako-Melges finished first, followed by Quantum Sails and Salsa Lou third.

Further dramas unfolded during the final race of the series when the two Delphia sports 24's, Splash 1 and Splash 2 ran into trouble, retiring with a broken mast and a broken rudder respectively.

The solid breeze produced some exciting downwind action which suited Quantum Sails this time around, less than a minute ahead of Bendigo Private and Ronstan Ray White with their first top three placing at the regatta.
Final Series Results show Mako Melges with 14.00, Salsa Lou 2400 and Quantum Sails 29.50

With their worst result an equal fourth in race three of the series, the Mako-Melges team can be justly proud of their consistent efforts in a very competitive field.

'The beauty of this regatta is that it's been a bit of everything' said Walters 'it was a whole bunch of boats finishing very close together on handicap. This is our third year and I've been eyeing off those Blue jackets for a while so it's really great to get the win.'

Bundaberg Rum Sports Boats Champs

Updated: 25/01/2009 19:22:40

***Series Results [EHC] up to Race 8 (Drops = 1)***
Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Design	Sers Score	Race 8	Race 7	Race 6	Race 5	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		AUS762	MAKO - MELGES	Heath Walters	RPAYC	Melges 24 OD	14.00	4.00	1.00	4.00	1.00	1.00	[4.50]	2.00	1.00
2		7018	SALSA LOU	John Lloyd	PYC	Thompson 7	24.00	6.00	3.00	2.00	7.00	3.00	[8.00]	1.00	2.00
3		1	QUANTUM SAILS	Graham Sherring	SYC	EGAN 6	29.50	1.00	2.00	12.50	6.00	2.00	3.00	[13.00]	3.00
4		AUS215	WHAT THA	Heath Townsend	GBYC	Melges 24 OD	32.00	[22.00S]	5.00	3.00	2.00	6.00	7.00	4.00	5.00
5		G108	BENDIGO PRIVATE	Cam Rae	RGYC	Thompson 8	32.50	2.00	4.00	[10.00]	3.50	8.00	2.00	9.00	4.00
6		7021	RONSTAN/RAY WHITE	Greg ScHerwinski	RBYC	Thompson 7	39.50	3.00	7.00	9.00	3.50	4.00	[9.00]	6.00	7.00
7		6311	ZIPPIER	Andrew Waugh	SRBYC	Thompson 8	45.00	5.00	11.00	1.00	5.00	5.00	[12.00]	10.00	8.00
8		B1	VIVACE	Noel Leigh-Smith	SYC	Melges 24	47.00	10.00	9.00	5.00	9.00	7.00	1.00	[17.00]	6.00
9		7005	ROADWARIORS	Steve Battley	SOPYC	Thompson 7	54.00	9.00	8.00	6.00	8.00	10.00	10.00	3.00	[10.00]
10		7007	ZIP	Bruce Hollis	RPEYC	Thompson 7	67.00	7.00	10.00	11.00	12.00	[15.00]	13.00	5.00	9.00
11		5652	MASSIVE RUSH	Tim Smith	SYC	Elliot 780	78.00	[22.00S]	17.00	7.00	10.00	11.00	11.00	7.00	15.00
12		D242	SPLASH 2	Dave Allen	RYCV	Delphia Sport 24	79.50	22.00F	6.00	12.50	[22.00C]	13.00	6.00	8.00	12.00
13		CK50	NQW	James Heywood	MYC	Thompson 7 one desig	94.00	11.00	12.00	14.00	13.00	17.00	[19.00]	14.00	13.00
14		D241	SPLASH 1	David Hoevenaars	RYCV	Delphia sport 24	94.50	22.00F	14.00	8.00	[22.00C]	16.00	4.50	19.00	11.00
15		SS8	TOP GEAR	Royce Salter	RYCT	Short Salter	95.00	12.00	16.00	15.00	11.00	14.00	15.00	12.00	[16.00]
16		AUS710	VITESSE	David Farrimond	RGYC	Melges 24	109.00	8.00	13.00	18.00	[22.00C]	12.00	17.00	20.00	21.00
17		YC245	GAME OVER	Julian Newton	CYCSA	Elliot Espx 7.8	114.00	22.00C	22.00C	22.00C	[22.00F]	9.00	14.00	11.00	14.00
18		B5747	THE WORKS	Chris Bland	RBYC	Elliot 770	131.00	22.00C	22.00F	17.00	[22.00F]	18.00	18.00	15.00	19.00
19		AUS098	ESSENTIALLY CHICKEN	Richard Backwell	RGYC	Esse 850	132.00	22.00C	15.00	16.00	22.00C	22.00C	[22.00C]	18.00	17.00
20		DS808	M.J.R OUTRAGE	Antony EcCles	RMYC	Duncanson Phuket 8	138.00	22.00C	22.00C	22.00C	22.00C	[22.00F]	16.00	16.00	18.00
21		128	BOHICA	Todd Bartlett	VHYC	Boatspeed 23	151.00	22.00C	22.00C	22.00C	22.00C	22.00C	[22.00C]	21.00	20.00

(Ties: S=Score R=Race B= Bettered. Penalties: A=ARB B=BFD C=DNC D=DNE E=ESP F=DNF G=RDG L=Late Entrant M=DGM N=ENP O=OCS P=Protest Q=DSQ R=RAF S=DNS U=DUT V=AVG X=EXC Z=ZFP Y=SCP #=NoData [x.y]=Discarded)

by Traci Ayris

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Skandia Geelong Week Sports Boats winners Mako-Melges

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