Australian Nationals - Final Day

31 December 2013

Day four of the Fireball nationals and the swell was down as was the breeze. Still plenty of weed which caused many a boat to become parked up.

Three races were sailed with Greg and Allan coming away with two wins and a third. This moved them to within two points of Thommo and Havas who had two thirds and a first.

The day was controversial with Greg and Allan facing two potential protests from different races. Thommo decided not to protest in their incident with Greg at the top mark in race two. John however lodged a protest against Greg for pumping when the pumping flag was down.  This protest was dismissed leaving the results as they stand.

So going into the final day all was up for the taking. Greg and Allan made their intentions clear, hunting Thommo and Havas from the five minute gun onwards. Both got away to a clear start and were racing closely for the first lap. On the second lap the places shuffled a bit with the left of the course favouring. The third lap shuffled things even further. Ben and Jeff, who had been caught on the right early in the race sending them to the rear of the fleet used the left for a second time to gain major ground.  They climbed into the top three while a number of boats that had looked good all day on the right fell away.

Coming into the bottom mark for the final time Greg rounded in front with John, Ben and Nick locked together.  Thommo sat about four boat lengths back.  Greg continuing to be aggressive tacked round the mark onto starboard and proceeded to hunt down Thommo who was still on the reach. An altercation occurred leaving Havas bloody and out the back door while Greg went on for the win moving them into first overall.  Ben and Jeff slipped into second with John and Brett third.

Race ten and Greg and Allan held a one point lead over Thommo and Havas.  The start was all clear with the left of the course favouring again. Ben and Jeff came through to round second with Phil and Clouds rounding in first. Greg and Thommo were a bit further back closely marking each other.

Greg moved forward on the run to second with John in third.  The second lap was again a left hand track with Thommo climbing onto Greg's transom.  The reaches were super tight so little changed. Onto the third beat and the pressure was more hit and miss. Greg and Thommo went more to the right than Ben and Jeff closing in on them.  Greg snuck around in first with Ben second and Thommo third.  The positions remained the same at the finish line handing Greg and Allan the championships.

A bruised and battered Thommo and Havas came in for second overall with John and Brett third. Ben and Jeff with two seconds for the day moved up to forth with Phil and Clouds closing out the top five.

Special thanks must go to Don Allen and the Warrnambool Sailing Club for putting on a great regatta and to Mike Rogers and his team for getting in ten races in trying condtions.

What was great to see was the number of sailors taking part in their first Fireball nationals. Focus now moves on to the worlds in Thailand in March and the next nationals at Gosford Sailing Club next Christmas.