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| Windsurfer One Design State Titles 2008 Wrap |
| Tuesday, 05 February 2008 10:00 |
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Despite awful weather (rain flooding streets for most of the time, 0-6 knots of wind, lightning, etc) we had a great roll up of 39 sailors for the Windsurfer One Design and Junior One states at Dobroyd on Saturday 2nd February and Narrabeen Lakes on the Sunday. The sailors ranged from ex-Olympians to 8 year olds, and about one third of them were 15 or under. People turned up from Melbourne and Canberra and there was a good bunch from Newcastle/Lake Macquarie. Only the Wollongong and Cronulla sailors were missing; the Wollongong guys are understandably exhausted after travelling up and down the East Coast doing other national titles. It was a great turn out given the terrible forecast - many thanks to all the sailors who came.  The Windsurfers missed the worst of Saturday's weather, and in fact the afternoon races took place in a light NEer under sunny skies. Sunday was very calm. The racing was close and mixed, with people finishing 1st or 2nd in one race and mid fleet in the next. Ron Schwebel from Narrabeen revelled in the conditions and sailed brilliantly all weekend, finishing top lightweight from Paul Ivshenko (Manly). Karen Constable was top woman (ahead of Deb Apthorp) and an excellent third fastest overall behind Ron and Paul. Greg Johns (DAC) took the heavyweight class from fellow DACster Steve Barton. DAC also scored one and two in the mediumweights with Chris Thompson winning from Andy Bursill. Mick Griffith missed Saturday but flew on Sunday. Another highlight of the racing was Brendan Jenkins' outstanding finish of fifth overall in Race 3; if he'd turned up for Sunday he would have done very well. The Juniors (under 15 years) have a separate event where they race the standard board but with smaller sails. Matt Ivshenko (Manly) easily won the Junior One class, and then put on the big sail and won the Silver Fleet and Youth divisions in the adult's open fleet. DAC's Jack Garner, a newcomer to windsurfing, showed lots of promise to come in second overall in the Junior Ones.  The Sub Juniors (8 to 12 years) had some great racing, often crossing the line with just one or two lengths between the top three. More importantly, they just kept on having fun and sailing well all weekend. They sailed eagerly until we told them to stop, and then they went out and splashed around on their boards together. In the closest finish of them, all Jack Buchan won the Sub Junior division on countback from fellow Lake Macquarie sailor Owen Long and DAC's Bart Antonelli and Kurt Billington. DAC's Lukas Sorenson sailed brilliantly for 99% of Race 4 but lost it all in a calm on the line. So far this season over 60 sailors have raced on Windsurfer One Designs and Junior Ones in NSW, and there are fleets starting at Lake Mac and hopefully in the eastern suburbs. Many, many thanks to Pat Coleman, Chris Allen and Ron Jenkins (DAC race committee for the Saturday), Rhys and the Narrabeen Lakes Sailing Club committee for the Sunday sailing, and to the Billingtons, Steve Barton, Deb Apthorp, and Ron Schwebel for their help. |
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Sydney Current Conditions
Temperature: 16.3°C
Dew Point: 12.7°C
Relative Humidity: 79%
Wind Speed: 18.5km/h
Wind Gusts: 24.1km/h
Wind Direction: N
Pressure: 1013.1hPa
Rain Since 9AM: 0.8mm -
Sydney Forecast
Saturday:
Numerous Showers. Morning Clouds. Mild.
14 - 20
Sunday:
Afternoon Clouds. Mild.
8 - 19
Monday:
A Few Showers. Afternoon Clouds. Cool.
7 - 15