2022 SB20 Australian Championship in Hobart - Day 1
by Jane Austin 10 Dec 2022 13:53 GMT
10-12 December 2022
The Ares Racing Team, skippered by Will Sargent, showed why they are the SB20 Youth World Champions, with bullets in each of the four races today. The young guns were in their element, almost constantly in the lead, with the rest of the fleet in awe of the boat speed and sailing prowess of the young team.
"The two big keys for the day were to get a good start so we could implement our pre-race strategy and have plenty of boat speed to execute - we did both. It was an awesome effort from my very talented team," said Sargent.
Steve Catchpool skipper of Rebellion and currently sitting in sixth place, said the rest of the fleet had a lot of work to do to chase down the leaders. "Ares Racing was just phenomenal, winning four races and then winning outright [across the line and on handicap] in the last race shows just how important their experience campaigning in the 2022 world championship Ireland was to the team," said Catchpool.
The first day of the three-day regatta had a bit of everything - wind shifts, course changes, and the odd bingle on the race course. In race one, four boats were abreast coming into the finish line but the gap was too tight for Wedgewood (David Graney) who ran over the mark and collided with Cook Your Own Dinner (Felicity Allison). The encounter was taken to the jury room but with the intricacies of four boats involved, no decision was achieved on the day and the protest committee will reconvene on Monday morning. Aeolus (Brett Cooper) was looking famous picking up a few places downwind, but not enough to take the win from Ares.
In the second race of the day, it was all Ares, Export Roo (Michael Cooper) and Aeolus, but a wind shift from the south-east saw Race Officer Scott Price, change the course with the fleet heading towards the eastern shore, but it was not enough to upset the youth team.
A highlight of the racing was the performance of the young teams from The Hutchins School Sailing Academy, with skippers Nick Jones and Hugo Allison keeping pace with the top teams for much of the day's sailing.
Race Officer, Scott Price, was delighted with the conditions for the first day of the regatta. "It was one of those rare days when the wind behaved itself nicely - it's a very high calibre fleet with so many young people out on the water - it's one of the strengths of the class," said Price.
Ares Racing Team is in first place on four points, Aeolus sits in second on 12 points, with Export Roo and further four points back on 16. Defending champion, Phil Reid (Mind Games) is holding fifth place on 22 points.
The conditions are shifting to the north for the second day of racing while Monday is likely to offer heavier conditions from the south-west. Price expects to work the fleet hard on Sunday and sail four or five races.
Racing starts at 10:30am on Sunday.
The championship is hosted by the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania over three days, from Saturday 10 December to Monday 12 December 2022. A maximum of ten races will be sailed in the regatta.
Results after Day 1:
| Pos | Sail No | Boat Name | Skipper | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | 3819 | ARES | Will Sargent | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 2 | 3745 | AEOLUS | Brett Cooper | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 12 |
| 3 | 3731 | EXPORT ROO | Michael Cooper | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 16 |
| 4 | 3743 | KARABOS | Nick Rogers | 3 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 17 |
| 5 | 3390 | MINDGAMES | Phil Reid | 8 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 22 |
| 6 | 3744 | REBELLION | Stephen Catchpool | 4 | 6 | 9 | 4 | 23 |
| 7 | 3387 | MURRAY JONES | Hugo Allison | 7 | 10 | 4 | 12 | 33 |
| 8 | 3658 | COOK YOUR OWN DINNER | Felicity Allison | 5 | 13 | 11 | 5 | 34 |
| 9 | 3742 | OBI KENOBI | Frazer Read | 12 | 12 | 7 | 8 | 39 |
| 10 | 3395 | WEDGEWOOD | David Graney | 10 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 39 |
| 11 | 3356 | WARWICK DEAN | Nick Jones | 11 | 9 | 12 | 9 | 41 |
| 12 | 3108 | BLUE GULL | Scott Glanville | 9 | 7 | 13 | 13 | 42 |
| 13 | 3747 | STORMTROOPER | Matt Bugg | 14F | 11 | 8 | 10 | 43 |