The Finn, OK Dinghy and Mosquito Catamaran classes have joined forces with the Adelaide Sailing Club for their respective class national championships as part of a combined ‘ASC National Regatta’ from 5-10 January 2020.
The invitation races for each of the classes, as well as the measuring and registration, got underway yesterday ahead of the beginning of championship racing today.
Strong fleets have turned out across the three classes, creating an exciting combined on-water contingent of 76 boats, made up of 32 OK Dinghies, 20 Finns, and 24 Mosquitoes across the Mk I, Mk II and Spinnaker divisions.
The event also is a great example of the capability of the Adelaide Sailing Club’s race management team, which will run multiple courses for the various national championships as part of the event.
Down Under Sail’s on-the-ground coverage of the event begins tomorrow, with highlights videos and social media content across the final four days.
OK Dinghy
In the OK Dinghy class, six-time national champion Mark Jackson, three-time national champion Mike Williams, and 2018 national champion Rob McMillan look to be a few of the favourites going into the event, but will also be pushed by Tim Davies, who was 14th and first Australian in the 2019 worlds.
From a local point of view, the class has shown a lot of growth in South Australia and continues the strength into this event with a strong contingent of local sailors.
David Ketteridge has been sailing the class for more than 40 years and will join a number of other SA entries such as newcomers Sean Homan and Duncan Lock, veteran Kevin Knott, and 15th place getter at the recent worlds, Brent Williams.
The event has seen entries from four states – Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia.
Brent Williams drew first blood in the invitation race, taking the race win, but slipped away slightly on the first day of championship racing today with a 5-6 scorecard to kick things off.
Rob McMillan has kicked off the regatta well after not competing in the invitation race to start the championship sailing with 1-2 scorecard putting him in the lead.
Tim Davies, Mark Jackson and Glenn Williams all had consistent starts to their regattas and sit in second, third and fourth respectively.
For full results head to >>> https://www.sailwave.com/results/adelaidesc/OK%20Dinghy%20Nationals%202020.htm#r1
Finn
Following on from the recent Finn Gold Cup event in Melbourne, the class is straight back into it with the national championships at the Adelaide Sailing Club, featuring a fleet of 20 boats.
A strong group of sailors have entered from the home state of South Australia, made up of a number of veteran sailors who have had some great competition at the host club this season.
However it is the Western Australian youngster Lachlan Gilham that has gotten off to the best start with two bullets to kick off the championship racing today.
He sits in the lead after the first two races, followed by Sydney’s John Condie in second with a 2-3 score card and Brisbane’s Phil Chadwick in third with a fourth and a second.
With plenty of close competition out on the water for the Finn class, expect some epic racing throughout the event.
For full results head to >>> https://www.sailwave.com/results/adelaidesc/Ronstan%20Finn%20Nationals%202020.htm
Mosquito
With a fleet of 24 Mosquito Catamarans across the three divisions of the class, the racing for this year’s national championship is set to be exciting with a lot of close racing across the fleets.
The Mk I single-handed division has shown the strongest turnout with 14 boats on the start line, and hometown hopeful Warwick Kemp looking the goods early with a 1-1-2 score card to kick things off in today’s championship racing.
He sits on top of the table after three races ahead of Phillip Pearce in second and Steve Thomas in third.
In the Mk II division, some close racing was had in the five-boat fleet with a couple of boats sharing the race wins and things looking to get really interesting when the drop comes into play.
Justin and Kalahni Bissi were the pick of the boats after the first day with a 1-2-1 score card, followed by Mick and Di Floyd in second with a 2-3-3 and Peter Dunk and Kirsten Thomas in third with a DNF-1-2.
Finally, the spinnaker division for the Mosquito Catamarans looks a little more one-sided early on, with Matthew Stone kicking off his national campaign with wins in the invitation race, as well as the first three championship races.
He is then followed by Gary Maskiell and Tim Shepperd on equal points for second and third, with Maskiell finishing with seconds in all races except for one in which he was unable to finish.
For full results head to >>> https://www.sailwave.com/results/adelaidesc/Mosquito%20Nationals%202020.htm
