The season is open and with it the first leg of the Qld States are done and dusted!

Keppel Bay turned on Champagne conditions for the Fathers Day Weekend with a cracking Northerly sea breeze arriving on time for the Saturday afternoon heats and Sundays delivery was just as tasty with a variation on the Sea Breeze from the day before.

Local Yeppoon Sharpie “Spent” showed a clean transom to the rest of the fleet by taking a clean sweep of the 5 races on offer and was never really challenged however the rest of the fleet had some good tight racing with almost everybody getting a taste of second place, in fact second and third were both decided on a count back with only one point separating those placings!

Fresh back from the boat builder Fraser Platts’ “Polarbear Express” showed promising form with two 2nd placings to put them in second place after a count-back separating a tie with Conrad Byrt’s  new boat “Hot and Dusty” giving us all a taste of what promises to be a competitive season for both of them. We also welcomed Stella Kenny bringing her new boat “Sugarcane Champagne” down from Townsville for a workout with her crew.

Our next Qld State hit out will be coming up in October at Humpybong Yacht Club – Woody Point in conjunction with the annual HumpyBash Regatta, lets see who can stretch their legs enough to narrow the gap on “Spent” in this round, they’ll need to be in Express mode and not be feeling too Dusty to Sting them and Storm home to see a Champagne finish!

See you at the Bash!

Leg Two wrap from Woody Point – The Humpybash Regatta.

Six Sharpies launched into a fantastic weekend of sailing at the Humpybash Regatta to compete for States glory in leg two of our three regatta States series.

Conditions were forecast to be 15 Knots on the Saturday and 20-25 Knots on the Sunday, it turned out to be slightly under, but this in no way made for less enjoyable racing.
We lined up for six races in all, with a mixed fleet of 14 boats making for quite a busy start line and all sorts jockeying for position.

Spent continued their winning ways showing us all how to get a clean start and arrive at the top mark in pole position – good crew work and clear air from there on made them very hard to catch.
RickO and the Silent Butt Deadly team were in fine form finding some extra height and speed to give themselves some great placings to finish the regatta as runner-up.
Sting mixed up their crew configuration on the Saturday to rest sheet hand Nic’s injured shoulder and Sunday welcomed “Angus Hughes” in a cameo appearance for the day with a couple of podium finishes to take Bronze.

PolarBear Express featured a star studded crew lineup for the weekend including appearances from the one and only “Nick Minor” – “The Ollie Burnell” himself and Qld Sharpie President “Fraser Platts” pulling off some very nice placings to finish just 2 points behind Sting.
Damian Byrt on Storm Dog without their regulars put together an old Sandgate crew combination of Ralph Stutchbury and John Black to brave the Bramble Bay Chop to keep us honest! The Hot and Dusty team regulars were missing in action too as Conrad Byrt recruited Australian Womens Sharpie Champion Shelby Newton on the sheet and Grant Wilmott on the wire to get around the course, it should be noted that focused socialising on the Friday and Saturday nights may have hampered their performance on the water. 😉

Next stop – Lake Cootharaba on 30th November – 1st December and then on to Nationals at Yeppoon! Get your entries in!!

Queensland States Leg Three – Lake Cootharaba

The Lake put it on for 6 Sharpies at Mono Masters last weekend with the Saturday dishing up an 18
Knotter to give some cracking rides on the flat water and some great racing to wrap up our State
Championships for the year!

Team Spent proved that they actually are not spent by putting on another “Clinic” to take out this years States Title and leave the rest of us to feast on scraps in every heat bar the last two which they elected to sit out having already secured the title. They have been consistently on point all year and are deserved winners of the newly restored “Queensland Championship (John Cuneo) Trophy” – “The Early Cup” (Crew of the Qld Champion) and the “The Gladstone Trophy”

Polar Bear Express, Sting and Silent Butt Deadly were all in the mix for second hand glory in this leg with plenty of changes in the order over the four races however Hot and Dusty and Sugarcane Champagne stayed close, ever lurking to pounce on any errors in front. The wind blew itself out for the Sunday and we hit the water late after waiting all morning for the breeze to fill, eventually we got off the startline only to be recalled as the wind had swung sharply right to make the windward leg a procession.

Finally we managed to get racing proper and in the absence of Spent, Silent Butt Deadly were showing the way in both heats only to be robbed of victory twice with Sting sailing some shady angles on the final run to snatch a victory in the first one and a cruel 90 degree wind change at the final mark gifting Polar Bear Express a clear lane to the finish in the second race.

The Thunderstorm that followed the wind change saw us hightailing it back to shore to lower masts etc for safety – certainly no need to wash down the boat after that!

Final Queensland Championship results:

1. “Spent” Q844 S. Lawrence R. Deards D. Stover
2. “Polar Bear Express” Q869 J. McCall, T. Blade, F. Platts
3. “Sting” Q852 B.W. Rankine, N. Wheeler, T. Ducker