Another two heats of the 57th Australian Flying Fifteen Championships were sailed today (January 3) under trying conditions, with the WA boats continuing to perform well.   After six heats, WA boats fill the top four positions for the regatta overall .

Race 5

Race 5 started in winds of under 5 knots from the North East with the air temperature of around 38 degrees Celsius.  In almost drifting conditions, it was very hot for the sailors out on the water, and the tide was having an effect on the fleet, with some misjudging mark roundings and having to do penalty turns as a result.

Once the first lap had been completed, however, the wind underwent an almost 180 degree shift to the South West, with a gentle seabreeze coming in.  The Race Officer chose not to abandon the race despite this major windshift, but the feeling amongst the fleet is that this decision did not alter the final race placings too much.  The change in wind direction did, however, play havoc with some of the fleet as what had previously been the windward mark became the leeward mark, complete with spreader buoy.  At least one competitor forgot to round the spreader mark before starting their beat back to the finish and had to go back and reround it.  Take a bow, John Hassen.  The fleet was quite closely packed which led to a few people exonerating themselves from offences by taking penalty turns.

RFBYC sailors Philippa Packer and Dean MacAullay in Firefly were one of the beneficiaries of the wind change and won the race by 11 seconds from the ever-consistent Nick and Enfys Jerwood in Ineffable who had been leading up to that point.  Third across the line were Victorians Dale Collings and Wayne Fallows in Aussie Falcon. 

Fourth and Fifth were two more WA boats - David Yu and Chris Nelson (Tuffan Up) and John Wilson (Ffast Lane 3) respectively.  7th to 9th positions were also filled by WA boats with Jen Simms and Adam Semple from SoPYC in Yes No Maybe! continuing to improve as the regatta progresses, finishing in 8th position, just behind fellow SoPYC sailors Peter Rooke and Paul Dunbar in Fflashpoint in 7th, and ahead of Invitation race and Race 3 winners Leavo and Baddy (in Glamour Buoys) from RFBYC in 9th.  This meant that 7 of the top 9 boats were from WA.

Further back, Peter Groom and John Muscio from Geraldton finished in 11th in Nelson's Loose Cannon - their best result of the regatta so far.  Karen and Russell Dawes had a disappointing result, by their standards, finishing 15th in Second Breakfast after having to do a penalty turn for hitting a mark.  Carl and Kristine Petterson put yesterday's disqualification behind them with a solid 16th placing in Faffin and Simon and Aileen Lucas from Albany in Fforeigner, having repaired yesterday's spreader breakage finished 18th.  

Other WA placings included Stephen Pidgeon's 16 in 21st position, and John Hassen (courtesy of his mark rounding indiscretion) in She Who Must Be Obeyed finishing in 23rd.  Greg and Leanne Howell crossed the line in 25th place in Enuff Rope and Jeff Vance was 27th in Ffast Lane.

In other results of note, David Tabb in Ark unfortunately picked up a 19th to go with his OCS earlier in the regatta to put a dent in his championship hopes.  And Stephen Fries blotted his up-till-now consistent top-10 copybook with a 17th place in Surprize by Giver.

Full results from Race Five can be found here.

Race 6

The seabreeze persisted for Race 6, with a gentle seabreeze from the South West kicking in at around 10 knots bringing some much needed cooler air to the fleet.  The breeze eased as the race progressed and took a left hand shift towards the end of the race to benefit those who had chosen that side of the course.

SoPYC's Nick and Enfys Jerwood in Ineffable repeated their Heat 4 win with another win in Race 6 - the only competitors to win more than one race in this close-fought regatta.  They finished a clear 30 seconds ahead of second placed Greg Leaversuch and Peter Barblett from RFBYC in Glamour Buoys, with Victorians Dale Collings and Wayne Fallows in Aussie Falcon clearly thriving in the conditions, repeating their third placing from Race 5 and making up for their retirement and DNC on Day 1.

David Tabb in Ark showed that the result in Race 5 was an aberration, coming in a close 4th, as did Stephen Fries in Surprize by Giver, coming in 6th.  They were split by RFBYC's David Yu and Chris Nelson in Tuffan Up in 5th place.   

7th and 8th places were filled by WA boats Ffast Lane 3 (John Wilson) and Firefly (Phillipa Packer and Dean MacAullay) respectively - this being Firefly's lowest placing of the regatta so far.

John Hassen and Kevin Griffiths in She Who Must Be Obeyed took out 11th place - having sailed the correct course this time - and were closely followed by Simon and Aileen Lucas in Fforeigner in 12th, and Stephen Pidgeon and Stuart Adamson in 16 in 13th - their best result of the regatta so far.  Jen Simms and Adam Semple in Yes No Maybe! came across the line in 15th place ahead of fellow SoPYC sailors Jeff and Greg Vance in 16th place in Ffast Lane.

Karen and Russell Dawes continued to have issues in the lighter airs, finishing 18th in Second Breakfast ahead of Peter Rooke and Paul Dunbar in 19th. Other WA boats and their positions were Faffin in 21st, Nelson's Loose Cannon in 22nd and Enuff Rope in 25th.

Full results from Race Six can be found here.

Overall Standings

After six races, competitors are allowed one discard. Nick and Enfys Jerwood in Ineffable continue to be the clear leader with 8 points ahead of Phillipa Packer and Dean MacAullay in Firefly with 16 points.  Tuffan Up (David Yu) is in third place, and Leavo and Baddy in Glamour Buoys, now able to discard their OCS from Race 1, are in fourth overall.  WA's Ffast Lane 3 (John Wilson) is in 6th, meaning that 5 of the top 6 boats are from WA.  Second Breakfast (Karen Dawes) from SoPYC is also in the top 10 in 9th.

The overall results for the regatta can be found here.

A cold front is expected to come through overnight, bringing strong winds and possible postponement or cancellation, although winds are expected to ease following the front.  The RO has informed the fleet that he will advise further on the race schedule following a review of the weather at 9am tomorrow.