Australian Masters Games wraps up in Geelong

8:35 AM Fri 27 Feb 2009 GMT

'The final race start began in very light shifty airs - Australian Masters Games 2009' Teri Dodds

What happens when you get some 55 people ranging in age from 35 to 80 sailing 16 different classes of boat?

Why of course you get a group of sociable like minded people competing for medallions under the banner of The Australian Masters Games, at Geelong in Victoria.

If you throw in 20 odd volunteers both on and off water to run the above then the you hope this is a recipe for a great Regatta.

And so it came to pass that on Sunday the 22nd of February that an invitation race signalled the start of what was to become a very eventful week.

The event was run using Yachting Victoria's Yardstick Handicap system which proved so reliable that, in the overall results for Catamarans, three boats ended on equal points and the top two had to be separated by using Yachting Australia's Blue Book A 8.2 which meant that the winner of the last race was declared the winner overall which was Chris Parker from Colac sailing his 'A' class catamaram, Lifeboat.

A tie was also found in the 55-64 age group for Catarmarans where Peter Nikitin in his Mosquito,Bee Alert, won on a count back.

Most of the other age groups were also close. Royal Geelong sailors to win medallions were Tony and Julie Creak who won Gold in their 55-64 age group and silver in the Overall Monohulls. Tony Bull and Ben O'Brien were bronze medallists in the 45-54 age group.

On water we had many varying conditions from very moderate winds on the Sunday to very heavy on the Monday and Tuesday, to light on the Thursday and Friday.

The fleets were well behaved at the starts except for the monohulls in the last race where the dreaded Black flag had to be used after a general recall.

The medal presentation ceremony was held on the Friday at 1430 after what, to all of us, was a very memorable regatta.

Tasar entrant Antz Pantz has a close call with Manfred Herzer’s laser Zinc+ve (Overall 35-44 gold medallist) - Australian Masters Games 2009 - Teri Dodds