The inaugural Queensland A Class Championship was hosted by the Brisbane Radio Yacht Club at Cranbrook over the weekend of 27/28 October.

Queensland has not had a significant history of A Class racing with only a handful of boats around and none sailed on a regular basis. At the recent Nationals with five Qld skippers entered the QRYA thought the time was right to schedule a State Championship for the class.

BRYC had the confidence to agree to host it on the basis that if you schedule it they will come ………….. and they did; well Interstate boats at least. The number Queensland entrants was disappointing, being less than half the available boats capable of sailing, but with this being a start, maybe next year.

PRO Bill Clancy had racing under way on time at 1000 hrs with a full fleet of seven boats in very light variable conditions. The potential favourites for the event were consistent performer Gary Declauzel with his Sidewinder and Yeoman Sands sailing a recently acquired Venom with the rest being unknown but the Sweets having the potential to do well.

Andrew Sands sailing a Qld designed Extra was first out with a win in race 1 and then Malcolm Kampe, sailing a borrowed NRW-A continuing his good form demonstrated in recent months, strung a few wins together to lead at lunch time throwing the form guide on its ear.

The breeze picked up a bit in the afternoon and Yeoman coming to terms with the potential of the Venom was the standout bringing Malcolm’s run to an end and at the end of the day with 22 races completed was a clear leader by 19 points from Gary finding some form in the slightly stronger breezes, with Malcolm in third.  Unfortunately Leigh Norman who flew in on the Saturday morning had a prior commitment in Sydney on the Sunday and flew back on Saturday evening. A big effort Leigh …….. I hope you enjoyed your short visit.

The Sunday looked more promising with a solid westerly present when we arrived at lakeside and Gary with a smile on his face obviously looking forward to the day. Unfortunately Andrew’s back was playing up and he elected to sit the second day out leaving the fleet at five.

With only 15 races to be completed to meet the maximum races advertised it was agreed to push on with an aim to finish early thus allowing the travellers to hit the road.

The standout improvers were Gary Declauzel relishing the fresher conditions and Bob Fleming with his Sweet 7 showing a good turn of speed. Yeoman had a few lapses in concentration but held things together sufficiently with his lead on day 1 being too much for Gary to make up. Malcolm found the going tough in the fresher conditions when the NRW was not competitive but had a good dice with Graeme all day.

Racing ceased after completion of thirty-seven races (5 drops) with Yeoman Sands (QLD) a deserving champion from a fast finishing Gary Declauzel (NSW) in second and Bob Fleming (ACT) third. Club Commodore Clive Ball presented the trophies.

Racing was managed efficiently by PRO Bill Clancy, Scorer David Black and a number of other observers and boat crew, with lunches provided by the Club ladies.

Overall I think we all had a lot of fun in a competitive and friendly atmosphere with the event made by the willingness of the southern skippers to travel the long distances to attend.

Hopefully you will spread the word that will result in a bigger turnout next year. Gary indicated that he would like to return next year but questioned the scheduling with the Qld EC12, National EC12 and A Class events being held within 2 months a big ask for someone coming from Interstate. Maybe the QRYA officials can have another look at this.

Graeme Turk