Noosa hosts Sunshine Coast Inter-School Dinghy Regatta

11:29 AM Thu 28 May 2009 GMT

The Noosa Yacht & Rowing Club was proud to host the 10th Annual 'Stratogen Chartered Accountants' Sunshine Coast Inter-School Dinghy Regatta on the weekend. The event got off to a slow start on Saturday with no wind which kept the sailors delayed on the beach for over an hour until the breeze kicked in - and did it kick in!!

Schools from around the Sunshine Coast, sailing in the Vagabond II Sailing Dinghy class, competed in a series of pool heats on Saturday to grade the teams for the final series on Sunday.

Sunday dawned with great winds between 14 and 22 knots and a high level of excitement as the teams rigged on the beach for the first of 6 Finals races. Each Final pool raced in three short course races with The Petite Final going to Noosa Pengari Steiner School sailors Florian Poff and James Hardcastle with two first place finishes and a second closely followed by St. Andrews Anglican College sailors Jacinta Ainsworth and Paige Halsey with a First and two thirds. Third was Noosa Districts Jaime-Lee Thomasson and Sophie McDonough with a second, a third and a forth.

The Major Final was a showcase of the high level of sailing on the Sunshine Coast and the long hard hours spent on the water for both the sailors and the school staff that coach these world class sailors of the future.

The races were full of action with many teams being pinged by the on-water umpire, Kai Timm, for rule violations and made complete 720? penalty turns whilst other were caught out by some of the monster south easterly gusts that splashed across the course with quite a few capsizing and frantically trying to right their boats and get back into the race. The overall regatta winner was St Teresa's Catholic College skippered by Ali Blundell and competently crewed by Harry Robilliard, both 15 years old, with three first place wins. Second place went to St. Andrews Anglican College skippered by 14 year old Ella Evans with crewmate 10 year old Elyse Ainsworth with a third and 2 x second's and Good Shepherd Lutheran College in third place skippered by Audrey Stratssma with crew Jess Nelms with a second, a third and a forth place.

The last final in the series was a stand out with the series leader missing the start after trying to barge in from the pin end. After going back round the St. Teresa's skipper, Ali Blundell, found themselves in second last place with St. Andrews, Ella Evans, having a great start. Blundell showed her strength in the higher winds winning the first beat and turning the top mark in first place. The race was never in the bag for any crew with the lead changing five times before the Blundell/Robilliard (St. Teresa's) team got over the line in first place by less than a metre from Ella Evans (St. Andrews) with Jamie-Lee Thomasson (Noosa Districts) in third.

The Primary School Trophy, awarded to the highest ranked Primary School at the end of the series, was won by St Thomas More Primary School skippered by eight year old Eloise Blundell with crewmate 10 year old Sam Safe who came third in Pool A with a first, a forth and a third on Saturday.

by Paul Blundell

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Noosa hosts Sunshine Coast Inter-School Dinghy Regatta

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