Following the drama created by the strong winds on each of the first two race days this season, Race 3 of the SIXT Spring Championship was an opportunity for teams to get their boats on the water in more favourable conditions. A lack of good breeze forced a 45-minute delay at the start, but a fair breeze later prevailed, leading to a great 3-buoys race.
At the end of the revised 3-lap windward-leeward course, Sixt (Jacob Marks, Alex Marinelli, Rasmus Rosengren) crossed the finish line just 3 seconds ahead of Vaikobi (Kirk Mitchell, Andrew Stephenson, Daniel Barnett), with Smeg (Ash Rooklyn, Ricky Bridge, Max Paul) a further 24 seconds back in third place.
Rag & Famish Hotel, with Joel Beashel replacing regular skipper Ben Crafoord, fished in fourth place ahead of Club Marine (Emma Rankin), Sothebys Ballard Properties (Bec Hancock), Balmain (Henry Larkings), Lazarus Capital Partners (Tom Cunich), Fisher & Paykel (Brett Van Munster), The Kitchen Maker (Lachlan Steel), Yandoo (Tash Bryant), Gotcha4Life (Kade Morgan), Killer Coffee (Sam Abel), and The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines (Hugh Stoner).
The race produced some very good battles throughout the fleet and highlighted the talent of some of the young skippers and teams presently racing in the League’s fleet.
Yandoo, with Tash Bryant replacing current Giltinan world champion Tom Needham on the helm (Tom was on the main sheet for the day), went on a port tack while several teams were on starboard and soon grabbed the lead but was under pressure from Rag & Famish Hotel and Sixt when the two groups met.
Yandoo’s lead was only one boat length to each of The Rag and Sixt.
Fisher & Paykel came back from a ‘shaky’ start to challenge Yandoo, then took the race lead as the team rounded the ‘blue’ marker buoy narrowly ahead of Sixt, Rag & Famish and Smeg together, Club Marine and The Kitchen Maker.
Yandoo paid the penalty of having to go to the furthest marker buoy and was relegated back in the tightly bunched fleet.
Two of the fleet’s young-gun skippers, Jacob Marks (Sixt) and Joel Beashel (Rag & Famish Hotel), put on a great display of downwind action as they led the pack to the bottom where Sixt held a narrow lead. Smeg was in third place, ahead of Vaikobi, Club Marine, The Kitchen Maker, and Yandoo.
The breeze was about 8-10 knots for the second windward beat and Sixt was put under pressure from the consistent Vaikobi team, trailing Sixt by just 12 seconds at the weather mark. Smeg was still in third place, ahead of The Rag and Club Marine.
Sixt stretched her lead to 20 seconds downwind and to 25 seconds at the final weather mark before going on to a narrow victory over Vaikobi, which pushed the winner right to the finish line.
After the two earlier disappointing races due to wind conditions, this was an excellent opportunity for all teams to test their ability and resulted in a good spectacle for those on the spectator ferry and those watching the live coverage on SailMedia.
The progress points table in the Spring Championship has Sixt leading with a total of 4 points, followed by Lazarus on 9 points, Club Marine on 10, and Yandoo and Fisher & Paykel both on 13 points, with Vaikobi on 20 points.
Next Sunday (2 November) will be Race 2 of the Club Championship. Race 4 of the SIXT Spring Championship will be conducted in conjunction with the Club Championship race, for the Eric Bowen Memorial Trophy. SailMedia will live stream all the action with expert commentary from the course.
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