No elbow room on Melges 24
'Sportsboat fleet action - Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week'
Peter Campbell ©
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Courage award of the Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week must go to Perth sailor Yvonne Battley who is crewing for her husband Steve on the Melges 24 Northshore Simrad in the highly competitive Sports Boat Division of the regatta in the Whitsunday Islands of tropical Far North Queensland.
Yvonne suffered a suspected broken nose, a black eye and bruised lips in race two of the regatta on Saturday when hit in the face by the elbow of a fellow crew member during a fast spinnaker hoist. The crewman just happened to be her 24-year-old son Adrian!
Steve immediately retired from the race, radioed Race Control and prompt action by race director Denis Thompson had the injured Yvonne quickly brought ashore and treated by Airlie Beach ambulance officers.
Despite a 'bit of a headache', Yvonne was back on board the Melges 24 yesterday, with the crew notching up a 2nd place in the highly competitive fleet. Today has been a lay day, but the 107 boats contesting divisions ranging from Sports Boat to IRC grand prix will be racing tomorrow on the fourth day of the weeklong regatta.
After discarding the DNF 1 (did not finish), Northshore SImrad is sixth overall in the 19-boat fleet, the other placings being a 5th in race three in which Steve and Adrian Battley, together other crew member Brendon Green, sailed three-up.
The Battley family, from the South of Perth Yacht Club, is wellknown in sports boat racing with their Thompson 8s named Road Warriors, often trailing their boats across the Nullabor for regattas at Airlie Beach, Geelong and Hobart. This year, however, they decided to charter a Melges 24 for Airlie Beach Race Week.
'We have always raced as a family, with Adrian coming back from Los Angeles, where he is studying business administration, to sail with us at Airlie Beach,' Steve said. 'Our other son Jason has recently joined the Navy and is Sydney doing an officer training course.'
How had Adrian felt about knocking out his mother? 'I think he was a bit embarrassed, but all is forgiven,' his father said.
After four races over passage and windward/return courses in perfect sailing conditions, the smallest yacht in the Sports Boat division, Graham Sherring's Egan 6 Quantum Sails from Southport Yacht Club leads the pointscore on 5 points from three firsts and a second on corrected time.
However, only seven points separate the next four boats, with Sports Boat Association secretary Cam Rae from Royal Geelong Yacht Club in second place with his Thompson 8 on 18 points, followed by another Southport boat, Noel Leigh-Smith's new Bethwaite-design on 19 points, and Geoff Masters' Melges 24 Mako Sunglasses on 21.5 points and Heath Townsend's Kaito, also a Melges 24, on 25 points.
Full results at: www.airliebeachraceweek.com.au
by Peter Campbell 
Margaret River or Osborne Park (severne shop), WA
