10:06 AM Sat 6 Aug 2011 GMT
NSW Youth Match Racing Championships, hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, started Saturday 6 August 2011.
Byron White and his crew of Hamish Hardy and Tom Koerner representing the host club have finished the first day of the Championship on top of the scoreboard with seven wins from Round Robin 1.
For White, it was a successful return to match racing, having sat the last couple of seasons out. 'We sailed really cleanly in the difficult conditions. The light and shifty westerlies kept clocking around all day and the pressure was up and down.
'Our toughest match was the one we lost to Reece Tailby (RPAYC). We were out of phase in the pre-start and he kept moving away from us. We managed to make up some ground on the next two legs but didn't quite catch him,' White added.
White and Hardy have recently returned from the Governor's Cup in the USA and have traded places with White taking up the tiller and Hardy on main, adding Koerner to the team in the absence of Ashlen Rooklyn.
Sophie Lahey, one of two female skippers in the regatta, is in second place, finishing with six wins. Lahey, with her crew of Joel Turner, John Bucknall and Georgia Cronin, sailing under the burgee of Southport Yacht Club, scored the upset of the day, defeating defending champion Jay Griffin (CYCA) in the fourth match of Flight Two.
'We didn't expect to win that match,' Lahey recalled this afternoon. 'We're sailing four-up in this regatta and it's tough in the tricky conditions against those sailing three-up.
'All in all we had a good day and we'll see what tomorrow brings,' she added.
Based on a countback, Griffin sits in third place with six wins. Coming into the regatta he is the highest ranked skipper, yet is sailing with a new crew of Alex Chittenden, Jack Breislin and Kurt Hansen. All three young match racers have been selected to sail this regatta with Griffin, after showing promise in the CYCA's YSA Development Match Racing Squad.
'It was a tough day with very shifty and patchy conditions and the breeze was very up and down,' Griffin said after stepping ashore this afternoon.
'My crew did a really good job today given they are relatively new to match racing. In today's conditions, the crew are just as important as the skipper,' Griffin added.
Racing commenced at 1130hrs after a one hour AP whilst Race Officer Brian Brenac waited for the patchy seven to ten knot north westerly to fill in. The race course was laid in the vicinity of Point Piper and after the first flight the course was lengthened, making each match longer.
'Competition was very good but it was a shame that the breeze took so long to fill in,' Brenac said.
A protest was also heard back at the club this evening, with Carla Sexton (RPAYC) protesting the Race Committee over the weather conditions experience in her match against Tim Forbes-Smith (CYCA). The protest was subsequently dismissed.
Racing will continue tomorrow from 1015hrs with Stage Two being sailed followed by the Semi Finals and Final. The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting north to north westerly winds of five to 15 knots.
The winner of the Club Marine NSW Youth Match Racing Championship will gain automatic entry into the Australian Youth Match Racing Championship that will be sailed on Bakewell White 8's and hosted by Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club in Perth, WA from 6 to 11 September.
Current Standings at the end of Stage One
Byron White - CYCA - 7 wins, one loss
Sophie Lahey - Southport YC - 6 wins, 2 losses
Jay Griffin - CYCA - 6 wins, 2 losses
Andrea Green - CYCA - 5 wins, 3 losses
Tim Forbes-Smith - CYCA - 4 wins, 3 losses
Carla Sexton - RPAYC - 3 wins, 5 losses
Reece Tailby - RPAYC - 3 wins, 5 losses
Matthew Stenta - RPAYC 2 wins, 6 losses
Nicholas Howe - RSYS 1 win, 7 losses
Live results of each flight will continue to be posted on the CYCA
website
; with full round robin results available
here
.
CYCA website
by Jennifer Crooks
|
Cape Leeuwin, WA
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