6 Kiwis and 60 Aussies might seem a bit of a one sided contest but during 4 days of blue skies, light warm breezes and wonderful hospitality at the SPLM in Brisbane the Kiwis certainly held our own and were able to give the Aussies a few lessons on the way through.

 

We had a variety of breezes, mostly light and variable as is typical for this time of year in Brisbane, but we did enjoy a nice shifty challenging offshore (just) hiking breeze on day 3 as a change from the 4-8 knot "sea breezes" on the other 3 days. It was pretty much flat water the whole time but there were big tides that had to be respected and used wisely to get ahead of the very closely bunched fleets in both the Radial and Standard.

 

In the Radials it was a 3 way contest from the start between Kiwi Scott Leith (M) and Queensland locals Mark Kennedy (GM) and Danny Fuller (A). It was close all the way but Scott was able to keep control of the contest to win overall by a couple of points from Mark, with Danny having to carry a 15th from the second to last race to finish a few points further back.

 

After having a look at the forecast, waifes like Mike Knowsley (M) changed to the Standard fleet at registration and went on to record a couple of excellent bullets, joining GM's Chris Sadler and Gary Lock, who also scored bullets, in making sure the Aussies knew we were there. Unfortunately, unlike Scott in the Radials true consistency deserted all the Standard rig kiwis.

 

Local heavies ex World GM Champ Greg Adams & Brad Taylor (GM), Chris Dawson (GM) from Sydney and David Waite(M) from Perth ended up at the top of the Standard  results. They were closely followed by a flock of kiwis including Chris in 5th, GM's yours truely and Gary in 6th and 7th and Mike in 8th in the 35 boat fleet. GGM Bob Blakey finished mid fleet after pulling out early on the last day with the excuse of "having to get ashore to meet an old mate for drinks". Bob was spotted on the flight home the next day so it could not have been too tough a session.

 

So overall another great regatta to follow up on the trans tasman rivalries from the World Master Games and not a foil, X box or pedal in sight. 

 

Next opportunity to take on the Aussie Masters will be their Australian Laser Masters on the ocean at Mooloolaba in February, at which they tell us all kiwis will be welcome! They are expecting 250 masters so it should be a really great event so why not put it in the calendar and give it a shot.

 

Nick Page