Saturday proved to be a beautiful spring day for the start of the International Dragon Class State championship, with a SSE 10 to 12 knot breeze that was forecast to move a bit more to the east during the afternoon.
The fleet for the titles would be wide open with four of the potential winners not on the starting line, for various reasons.
Martin Burke, the current State champion with Riga, was in Europe; David Seaton’s Abracadabra, last year’s runner-up, had waited all week in vain for a new mast to be rigged; Tony Pfeiffer’s Magic was not to be seen.
Carl Ryves would not be on the starting line this season and we were very saddened to learn that Alysoun Ryves had passed away in the morning after a tremendous struggle with cancer.
Richard Franklin’s observations and comments after day one of the championships were:
- Norman Longworth has moved into early favoritism, steering Karabos VIII with Dick Seargent and David Bains crewing;
- Gordon Ingate, back with Whim, will no doubt be there, but a new crewing combination will make this a challenge;
- Robert Alpe, last year’s third placegetter, will also not be far away from a podium finish at the helm of Toogara;
- The newcomers in the “near new” Petticrow boats, Wolf Breit on Tatsu (the most recent arrival) and Anthony Armstrong (recently elected IDANSW President) on Wizzardry, will certainly prove a handful;
- Trio (Michael Bartley) who placed fourth last year and has made the trek again from Hunters Hill to be on the start line is looking a strong contender;
- Imagination (Martin Cooper), Shiva (John Lee), Isis (Grant Bellamy) will all make their presence felt through the eight race championship.
Race 1 – was set for 160 degrees with the top mark to the right of Shark Island. An individual recall saw Whim return – the flag didn’t drop. The majority of the fleet went left and then tacked onto port to pick up the (likely) shift to the east. Tatsu and Toogara picked this perfectly (other overlaid on the extent of the shift) and rounded the top mark together. The lead swapped twice as they cleared out from the fleet. Crossing the finish line the gun didn’t sound for Tatsu but did so for Toogara, finishing close astern. A win for Toogara, with Imagination in second and Karabos VIII third. Tatsu and Wizzardy had OCS on the scorecard.
Race 2 – was set for 140 degrees with the top mark to the left of Shark Island and either side of the Island would be an option. Karabos VIII and Imagination sailed a clever first work in shifty conditions to round the top mark in first and second respectively with Tatsu on their heels. The leaders appeared to fan out down wind with Tatsu close to the lay line and Karabos VIII to the right and Imagination well right. Right proved to be a bad call as Tatsu moved through to first place and was never headed while the rest of the fleet caught the front runners by the bottom mark. The race for second and third positions on the next upwind leg proved very exciting with positions changing on every shift. Tatsu got the gun going away with Trio and Imagination doing well to get the remaining positions.
Race 3 - was set for 135 degrees with the top mark to the left of Shark Island (the tide was now making). The race seemed to split quite quickly into two halves. Karabos VIII, Trio and Toogara sailed a good first work to separate from the rest of the fleet. The breeze moved further to the left, making catching these three a difficult proposition. A long (lifting) port tack to the right of Shark Island seemed the only way to go. A few short tacks to top mark saw those three boats off to the finish line. Karabos VIII maintained her position in first place, while Toogara managed to squeeze past Trio and that’s how they finished.
Riichard’s verdict after three races: Too early to pick. The 2007 State Titles is still anyone’s race!
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