Welcome to the official site of the International 470 Class Association
Zaoli Sails
North Sails | New Zealand
470in2024
Olimpic Sails
Rig Blitz
Tender One
SuperSpars

07 Jan 2010

Australian 470 National Championship - Day 1

Image: Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page © Victor Kovalenko

Racing got underway at Sorrento Sailing Club after a short delay to wait for the wind to steady enough to lay a course. With the breeze still light and the tide at its strongest, holding station on the start line was extremely difficult. Many boats were slow to get off the line as they rafted together but at least it was a clear start with no one over early.

There were no surprises seeing Australia's highest performing team of Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page sailing across the finish line first in the first race. The pair have won every event they have raced in Australia since they teamed up after the Beijing Olympics. In second place and putting in an impressive performance were Stacey Omay and Chelsea Hall from WA followed by Australian Sailing Team members, Samuel Kivell and William Ryan.

Malcolm Page described the conditions, “We started in a light morning gradient breeze which was very shifty and puffy. It was important to keep an eye on the course at all times so as not to miss anything. The sea breeze started to kick in during the last leg causing a large, 60' wind shift that thankfully arrived at an insignificant part of the race so it didn't affect the finishing positions.”

Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page went onto win the next two races continuing their undefeated streak. Mathew explained how the sea breeze changed the game, “With the breeze picking up as the day went on, the game changed from requiring smart tactics in the first race to winning boat speed in races two and three. The tide also dropped off making it easier to focus on sailing fast.”

Samuel Kivell and William Ryan sit in second place after finishing third and second in races two and three. Two points behind them are South Australia's, Shane Hughes and Felix Paterson.

Omay and Hall are the leading ladies team in 4th overall. Their performance was noted by the leaders of the pack who were impressed with the girls racing skills but they were not without drama as Stacey explained, “We were in 5th, blasting along the top reach when we suddenly stopped dead in the water! I could feel we had something on our rudder and looking down into the water I could see a massive clump of thick weed. We were totally out of control whist I tried to get it off and it was out of arms length so took ages to clear in which time we annoyingly lost 6 places.”

Newcomers to the fleet had some interesting learning experiences today. Katherine Brown's crew, Will Sherman accidentally stepped through the vang during a tack, causing them to capsize. “I was freezing after going for a swim, it's really deceptive out there on the water as it is super hot on the beach and there isn't a cloud in the sky but the water temperature is really cold. I ripped my wetsuit whilst capsizing which didn't help the chill factor. It was still great fun out there, I love sailing 470s.”

Top 10 after 4 Races (1 discard):
1. Mathew Belcher/Malcolm Page (AUS) - 3.00
2. Samuel Kivell/William Ryan (AUS) - 8.00
3. Shane Hughes/Felix Paterson (AUS) - 10.00
4. Stacey Omay/Chelsea Hall (AUS) - 17.00
5. Roy Jun Hao  Tay /Terence Seng Kiat Koh (SIN) - 17.00
6. Max Taylor/Ben Gunther (AUS) - 19.00
7. Alexander Conway/Patrick Conway (AUS) - 20.00
8. Matthew Crawford/Robert Crawford (AUS) - 28.00
9. Luke Morrison/Jack Morrison (AUS) - 29.00
10. Thomas Gordon/Jack Fletcher (AUS) - 30.00

More Information
Event Website
Overall Results
 
Source: Laura Baldwin