2020/2021 MIRROR STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

2020/2021 MIRROR

STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

THE 2020/21 MIRROR State Championships (downgraded from National Championships) where held in Albany at the picturesque Princess Royal Sailing Club on January 6th till 8th.

Strong easterly winds were forecast for the week and resulted in the cancellation of pre event diving on HMAS Perth and as it turned out the scheduling of the whole regatta.

The first two races where scheduled for Wednesday morning. The wind strength was strong but not quite ‘honking’, and racing went ahead with the course set in the shallower part of the bay to give some protection from the wind and chop. This is where it was proved that males cannot follow instructions with all the male skippers doing the wrong course while the female skippers did follow instructions and the correct course (sausage/triangle rather than triangle /sausage). Those of us with female crew who realised the error just did triangles to cover all options and this proved a good decision as most skippers retired when the error was noted. To be fair to the male skippers the race director had read out the course incorrectly at the briefing, but course sheets should still have been checked.

After the lunch break racing was cancelled for the day as the wind was by this stage ‘honking’, four boats having capsized coming back in from the race course before lunch to show its strength. With only two boats being classified in both the races held and a few classified in one race the leader board was very interesting (for some).

With more strong winds forecast for the following afternoons all racing was moved to the mornings with an earlier start time and more intense schedule.

Day two dawned with what was now the standard strong easterly. Racing was moved a bit closer to the club and in deeper water where there was a bit more space. Four races were scheduled and all were completed before the wind strength got too high. Racing was very tight throughout the fleet with a couple of good lifts paying off for some crews. With six races down those crews who had retirements from day one started to drop some high scores and move up the leader board. Even so the leader board was still looking a bit unusual.

That said those at the top could see that as more drops were taken their chances of staying at the top were somewhat slim. Now Albany is known for its whales and a hunt for a whale carcase was started, the idea being that a whale carcase in the race area would bring sharks and put an end to racing and a very good result for those currently at the top, nice theory but a bit hard to pull off! As expected whale carcases are not easy to come by, even a search of e-bay failed to find one, and racing continued on day three. As it transpired a whale carcase washed up in Bunbury on the Friday, a day too late and too far away to affect racing. It was determined that sailing a mirror upwind towing a large object was beyond both the boats’ and crews’ ability.

The third day of racing started in very light winds, not quite drifting but not far off it. A whole different skill set was required from the ‘pull everything on hard and hanging on approach’ of the previous days. The racing was still as tight as it had been on the previous days, just at a slower pace. The wind built steadily after the first race and by the end of the last race was at the standard 20+ knots we were used to.

Two crews from RFBYC made the road trip to compete. Simon & Tyson Barwood on Bulletproof won an impressive 7 of the 10 races to take out First place and the State Championship. Peter & Janine Judge sailing Bombora came in fourth overall and took out the Cruiser Weight Trophy.

Good racing, no injuries, no major breakages or damage, and friendships renewed; everything you want in a regatta.