NB Sailsports Coast Championships Vaucluse

83 boats competed in the NB Sailsports Coast Championships from Vaucluse Yacht Club over the weekend.

There was a strong contingent from the Harbour Clubs notably Double Bay Sailing Club and Middle Harbour Amateur Sailing Club.

Saturday saw a nice building Harbour NE’er which finished at 20 knots. As expected there was a lot of traffic including ferries on the race track on Saturday. Race Officer Rob Lowndes set the course dominantly in the eastern channel which kept the Manly Ferries using the western channel out of our way. The strong run out tide saw quite a few general recalls and the dreaded black flag had quite and airing. There were quite a few BFD’s and UFD’s on the score sheet.

Sunday saw an early morning southerly change which was still at 25 knots at the 11.00am start time. The rather cold and windy conditions provided good if testing conditions for Laser racing and had the added advantage, with the exception of the ferries, of our having the Harbour to our selves. The southerly did moderate slowly in the early afternoon however the scheduled three, three lap 45 minute races were completed in good time.

The star of the 4.7′s was Brooke Wilson DBSC/RSYS who finished with four bullets and two seconds. Daniel Costandi DBSC/RSYS/GRSC was second and had two wins with Evie Saunders DBSC/RSYS/MYC third.

The Radials saw an incredibly close finish with Zac West DBSC/RSYS despite having three heat wins in the end finishing only one point ahead of Mark Louis DBSC/RSYS/CYC and Otto Henry WSC. Mark was second ahead of Otto again by a single point in a tie break. Top Master sailor was Jeff Loosemore who is a GGM and finished 4th overall in the Radials including a win the last race.

The 41 boat Standard Rig Fleet was dominated by AST member Finn Alexander DBSC. Finn had a black flag in Race 1 but went on to win the next five. Second was current World Masters Champion Brett Beyer WSC who finished second to Finn in Races 2 to 6 and won Race 1. Oscar Hansen RSYS/MHAYC/DBSC was a clear third.

The full series results are HERE.

Thanks to Vaucluse Yacht Club for their great work in hosting this event. It is a great club in a beautiful location providing access to a truly iconic sailing race course.