Laser winner ELliott Noye
By Peter Campbell
Australian 420 dinghy champion Lucy Shepherd came through unbeaten in an outstanding display of sailing in the Crown Series Bellerive Regatta on the River Derwent over the weekend.
Sailing Clueless, with younger brother Doug as crew, Lucy, a junior member of the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, won all seven races in fresh to strong winds and, at times, quite rough water on the river, with a series score of 6 points.
She outsailed her major opponent, Alec Bailey, the Australian and World under 16 champion in the International Cadet class from Sandy Bay Sailing Club, who was helming an International 420, Hit and Run, for the first time. He finished second in five of the races for 17 point total. Third overall was Sorted (Hugh Foster) on 22 points.
DSS/RCYT Dinghy Group members Elliott Noye and George Jones finished one point apart in the Laser big rig class. Noye, sailing Shake N Bake, scored four firsts and three seconds for an 8 point total , while Jones, sailing Gutted Rabbit, had three wins, three seconds and a last race fifth for a net 9 points. The two were equal going into the final race, which Noye won with Jones fifth.
Tamar Yacht Club’s Angus Barton went back to Launceston with the trophy for the Laser Radial class in which he had three wins, three seconds and an eighth sailing Tiller Happy to finish on 9 points. He was comfortably clear of DSS/RYCT Dinghy Group member Ben Price on 12 points, who scored two wins, two firsts and three third placings.
Zac Pullen, also from the Dinghy Group, finished a close third on 13 points with a scorecard that included two wins, a second, three thirds and an eighth.
The B14 skiffs turned on some spectacular sailing in a series reduced to four races because of class limits on wind strength when Sunday’s breeze gusted to 30 knots. Victorian Scott Cunningham showed the locals the transom of Bonework in three of the four races, with a second in the other heat to finish on 13 points.
RYCT member Adrian Beswick, sailing Budget, finished on 19 points with a 4-1-2-4 result which gave him second place on a countback from Midway Point Sailing Club’s Early Warning (Ross Daley) whose results were a 3-3-3-2.
NS14 Spinifex (Peter Davis)
Another adult dinghy class, the NS14s, attracted a strong fleet from Lindisfarne Sailing Club, which also conducted the off-the-beach classes with input from Sandy Bay Sailing Club and the DSS/RYCT Dinghy Group officials.
Scott Wilkie sailed Norwegian Blue to a commanding win with five first places, a second a third to finish on 7 points, second place going to Gumblossom (Dennis Leitch) on 17 points, third to Alaska (Greg Rowsell) on 19 points who both sailed consistently without winning a race.
The other race winner during the weekend was Pumpkin Eater (Darren Eggens) who won heats two and three and finished fourth overall.
Three divisions were sailed for mixed classes on Alpha course, using Tasmanian yardstick handicaps. The venerable Australian Sharpie Nutpatch, skippered by Drew Latham, won Division 8, the 29er Tang (Sally Whimore) took out Division 9 and the F18 Wicked (Darren Flanagan) won Division 7.