Nacra 17s on show on the final day at Sail Sydney
by Stacey French 18 Dec 2016 18:04 UTC
15-18 December 2016
In their Sail Sydney debut, the Nacra 17 fleet impressed on the final day of competition. Today on the harbour Paul Darmanin and Lucy Copeland won the inaugural class title on count back.
"It was a very tricky weekend," Paul said. "We got some really good speeds up today coming down the waves, it was actually pretty gnarly."
"It's great to see Nacra 17 fleet really building up now, we're developing a squad for the next quad (four year period)."
For the remainder of the classes, Sail Sydney wrapped up for another year with Principal Race Officer, Colin Chidgey happy with the way competitors and volunteers managed the four day event.
"Conditions were tricky at times during the regatta and with the second half of the second day postponed we really wanted to get as many races in as we could on the Saturday," Colin said.
"The sun was out on Saturday and it was a huge day, our Race Officers, Volunteers and Club Staff all did a brilliant job coordinating not only Saturday but every day throughout the regatta and even prior to the event."
Sunday morning sailing welcomed competitors with grey skies and good breeze provided great racing conditions. While the Green Fleet sailors met for a race briefing before heading out, the Opti Intermediate and Open fleets descended on the Harbour first thing.
In the Opti Intermediate fleet, Joel Beashel won two races yesterday and didn't look back from the top of the leader board to win the Opti Intermediate class.
After a couple of bullets yesterday, Ryan Littlechild successfully defended his 2015 Sail Sydney Opti Open crown while Mina Ferguson was the first female in the strong Opti fleet.
"It was really fun out there, the racing was really fun," Mina said.
Woollahra Sailing Club representative, Ryan blocked out the distractions of the Harbour to not only retain the class title but win six points clear of his nearest rival.
"During the regatta I worked hard and kept consistent in results," Littlechild said. "A couple of races today I was deep in the fleet after a bad start and I had to make ground by picking shifts, sailing the boat flat and making sure everything was trimmed right."
In the Flying 11s Jake Barnabas and Tyler Dransfield made the most of conditions over the weekend to win the class title. Thomas Larkings and Tony Harrison finished the regatta in second place and were happy with their performance leading into nationals in Hobart.
"It was pretty shifty out there today, it was a good breeze at the start of the day which was good for us," Tom said.
"We got for races in yesterday, but today was a bit better because both of us were on the gunwhale which was good."
Tasar sailors made the most of conditions with Darryl Bentley and Rick Longbottom picking the shifts and pressure to post three wins from six races. Darryl and Rick are the reigning 2015 Sail Sydney Champions and enjoyed the event this year.
"Yesterday was a bit flukier and had a bit more tension on the race course because of the variability but today was quiet calm and consistent," Rick said. "We had anything from 8 to 15 knots and that suited us just fine.
"We had first and seconds throughout today and yesterday so we had to drop a second and you don't get much better than that."
Darryl and Rick are now preparing for the Tasar Nations in Port Stephens in 2017 with a fleet of 80 plus expected.
The Sabots sped across the Harbour completing four races today with Brin Liddell winning three of them to take the Sail Sydney 2016 crown.
The NSW Pacer State Championships were held in conjunction with Sail Sydney, Dallas Yan and Jarrod Khaw were the best of the fleet winning all five races completed.
Sail Sydney is proudly supported by the NSW Government through Transport for NSW, Nautilus Marine Boat Insurance, Gill Marine Technical Clothing, Steve Jarvin Motors, Tohatsu Outboards, Lejen Marine and Sydney Harbour Boat Storage.
Drummoyne Yacht Club, Vaucluse Yacht Club and Woollahra Sailing Club are proud partners of Sail Sydney 2016.
* All results posted and quoted in this article were correct at the time of publication pending protests.
More information and full results on the event website, www.sailsydney.org