Griffin leads after day 1 of University Match Racing Championships

7:49 AM Fri 23 Sep 2011 GMT

'NSW Uni's Tara McCall finished mid field after Day One - 2011 RPAYC University Match Racing Championship' Tom Spithill Click Here to view large photo

The inaugural University Match Racing Championship 2011 hosted by The Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club got underway on Pittwater in perfect conditions in a 10-15 knot WNW.

The event has attracted six teams from some of Sydney's top universities with sailors from UTS, Sydney Uni and Uni NSW competing in the event. The ISAF graded RPAYC Match Racing championship, a sanctioned Australian University sport event utilised the RPAYC's fleet of Force 24 keelboats with a crew of five.

Registration, weigh-in, teams' briefing & boat draw took place early in the day before the teams got their rigging in order and headed out on to the race track for the scheduled 1000hrs start.

The format sees two round robins with skippers sailing off against each other once in each round and carrying their points forward through each round. The skippers will be ranked one through to six and a series of knockouts will then take place to determine the winner.

The Race Committee headed by RO Jenny Bonnitcha and Chief Umpire Gary Manuel had a busy day setting the windward/leeward course in a shifty Westerly in order to keep the flights flowing.

Jay Griffin, representing the UTS and with an ISAF ranking of 66 is the clear favourite and yesterday led the way with an almost faultless scorecard, losing just the one race to Sydney University's Ted Hackney.

In what was regarded as the race of the day in flight five, Hackney and Griffin engaged in an aggressive pre-start with Hackney inflicting a penalty on Griffin as he entered the start area. The umpires awarded Griffin with a red flag penalty, meaning he had to take his penalty straight after the start. This gave Hackney the opportunity to build a comfortable lead and was never challenged, leading from start to finish to take the flight and the lead after the completion of Round One.

At the end of the day's racing, Hackney commented, 'It was a challenging day on the water. The Westerly was constantly shifting and we managed to do a good job of staying in phase with the breeze and getting off the line nicely. '

With Round One complete and a further three flights sailed in Round Two, at the end of Day One Griffin held a narrow one point lead over Hackney, who lost his first two races in Round Two.

Racing continues today to complete Round Two and the finals before the crews partner up with the RPAYC racing fleet to enjoy the first race of the Saturday afternoon short ocean point score with a race to Long Reef and back. Conditions are forecast to be a light 5-15 knot East South Easterly.

The UTS team, Griffin and crew work hard on the downwind run to end the day with just one loss - 2011 RPAYC University Match Racing Championship - Tom Spithill Click Here to view large photo

Day 1 Results:

1. Jay Griffin, UTS, 7 wins / 8 races
2. Ted Hackney, Syd Uni, 6 wins / 8 races
3. Andrea Green, Uni NSW, 5 wins / 8 races
4. Tara McCall, Uni NSW,4 wins / 8 races
5. Josephine Roper, Syd Uni, 1 wins / 8 races
6. Chris Eddes, Uni NSW, 1 wins / 8 races

The teams:
? NSW Uni 1: Helm, Tara McCall - Crew, Phil Kurts, Alice Walker, Ted Stephens, Jack Dawson
? NSW Uni 2: Helm, Andrea Green - Crew, Gabrielle King, Patrick Conway, Nicolas Thesaud, Marcus Conway
? NSW Uni 3: Helm, Chris Eddes -
? Sydney Uni 1: Helm, Ted Hackney - Crew, Sean O'Rourke, Sasha Ryan, Hamish Hardy, Alex Paton
? Sydney Uni 2: Helm, Josephine Roper - Crew, Ben Jassin, Beren Beowulf, Daniel Watson
? UTS: Helm, Jay Griffin - Crew, Jackson Cransfield, Kathleen Stroinovsky, Katie Webb, Scott Cotton, reserve, Carla Sexton

Thanks to the sponsors Helly Hansen, Quantum, sailing Images.net and Skiffs Australia.

by Damian Devine

Newsfeed supplied by

#News #Sailing #Griffin

Griffin leads after day 1 of University Match Racing Championships

Sports/News

Weather Forecasts & Live Reports

Buy & Sell/Classifieds