AUSTRALIAN RADIO YACHTING ASSOCIATION (Inc)

2008 EAST COAST 12 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

  Things To Do After the Nationals

Lake Eden, Cnr Lakefield and Memorial Drives NORTH LAKES, QUEENSLAND

FULL SCORE SHEET (PDF)

2008 EC12 National Championship

The 2008 EC12 National Championship hosted by the North Lakes One Metre Yacht Squadron this year had an International flair with a team of three boats from New Zealand along with four from ACT, two from NSW and five from Queensland, a strong fleet of fourteen boats.

Held on Lake Eden North Lakes the event was sailed under the direction of PRO Bill Clancy, in a full range of conditions from a light drifter on Saturday morning to a full WSW gale on Sunday morning, gusting to 33 knots at the nearby Redcliffe weather station.

While the numbers were down of last year the quality was not with the top four ranked skippers present to take on the NZ challenge with interest in how the Australian boats would compare with the slightly different NZ boats.

Malcolm Kampe was back to defend his title won last year in Canberra, Gary Declauzel with his tried and true no 20, Yeoman Sands with his Sorensen sporting new BG sails and two new Gillies boats from the Ian Gilmour stable, both second time on the water and sailed by Graeme Turk and IOM skipper Peter Morris. The NZ group all had beautifully prepared Norris boats.

Saturday saw beautiful calm sunny conditions, great for a holiday, but a bit trying on officials and skippers with the light and at times almost non-existent breeze. It was a bit of a lottery but Yeoman Sands seemed to handle the conditions well early with Peter Morris also prominent.

The breeze freshened in the afternoon to a steady A rig breeze with Malcolm hitting his straps after a slow start. Chris Harmer was the best of the Kiwi’s starting an ongoing battle with Neville Taylor for the top NZ skipper. Another to stand out was Lindon Wilson (ACT) who was extremely happy with his boat.

At the end of day 1 it was Malcolm comfortably ahead of Yeoman followed by Peter Morris and Graeme separated by 0.2 points with Chris Harmer the best of the Internationals in 5^th

The Saturday evening function was well attended by most of the competitors and enjoyed by all. Being a buffet venue service was immediate J

After a severe storm Saturday evening which brought 48 mms in 45 minutes and filled the lake a blustery south-westerly change came in bring with it cold gale force winds measured at 33 knots in gusts at the nearby weather station at 10:10 Sunday morning.

Such is Malcolm’s focus and preparation that when I arrived at the lake early No 94 was already on the water tuning up his C rig in preparation.

Racing got underway on time at 9:30 with all but three in C rig. Boat 12, 46 and 108 not having c’s braved it in B rig and Ian Gilmour whose boat was damaged on the first day decided not to risk it as he too didn’t have a c. Allan Edward also decided to withdraw later in the day rather a risk damage, claiming that in ACT they don’t sail in those conditions. Gary Declauzel whose C rig is dated 1995 claimed that this was the first time he had used it in competition.

Gary was excelling in the fresh conditions and was giving Malcolm a hard time while Yeoman suffered from lack of drive from his C rig and fell back. The conditions started to moderate later in the day and the B rig became the rig of choice.

Malcolm was taken out by a port tacker which completely destroyed his B mainsail forcing him to use his C rig for the rest of the day giving Gary a sniff which he took and put together a string of good results to close within striking distance with one race to go before his luck ran out with electrical failure allowing Malcolm to sailed a conservative last race to take the championship for a second year. Gary followed from Graeme and Yeoman, the same top four for the last 3 years with only the order changing. Neville Taylor won the battle for best Kiwi from Chris Harmer in 6^th

Hard luck story of the weekend went to Ian Gilmour who had his Sorenson damaged on Saturday and his new Gillies sailed by Peter Morris suffering both hull and sail damage on Sunday. He was awarded the hard luck cap from the NZ contingent.

Generous sponsorship from Rob and Michelle Guyatt (RMG Winches), Malcolm and Shirley Kampe (Radio Yacht Supplies), Ian Gilmour (Gillies Marine Services), Ken Dobbie (KD Sails), Robert Hales (Hales Micro), Steve Crewes (Steve Crewes Books) and Brad Gibson (BG Sails) saw excellent trophies presented.

Trophy list is:

1^st Malcolm Kampe (Qld)

2^nd Gary Declauzel (NSW)

3^rd Graeme Turk (Qld)

4^th to 14^th Competitor Medallion

Encouragement Award     Bob Stevenson (ACT)

Best Presented Boat            Craig Gutry NZ

Bouy Spinner Award           Yeoman Sands (Qld)

Sweeper Award                  Ian Gilmour (Qld)

The NZ EC12 Owners Assn has invited Australian Skippers to join them in Nelson next year for their Nationals. (Having been there I can recommend it ....... but take a c rig) Details will be posted when available.

SPONSORS:

We would like to thank the following sponsors who have contributed greatly to the success of the event. Please support them.

      Stephen Crewes Books