Penalty proves costly for Tassie sailor

DESPITE an unfortunate penalty, Hobart sailor Jock Calvert says he is “really happy” with his one race on day two of competition in the International Finn class at the Kiel Week Regatta in Germany.

The young sailor from the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania, still relatively new to this demanding Olympic single-handed dinghy class, is 29th overall in the fleet of 69, with a scorecard of 20-23-28.

Fellow Tasmanians Jasmin Galbraith and Chloe Fisher, from Sandy Bay Sailing Club, have lifted five places to be 49th overall in the 49er FX Olympic two-handed skiff for women. After two days of racing they have placed 23-185-21-25-22 in their first international regatta in the high-performance skiff.

In other classes in this Olympic test event, Australian crews continue to lead the men’s 470s and Nacra catamarans.

“Twenty-eighth finish to be 29th overall … it may seem like a bad day, but I’m still really happy,” Calvert wrote on his Facebook page after day two of racing. “I had a fantastic start and executed exactly what I wanted to do — work the right. It left me fifth at the top mark and right on the heels of the leaders.

“Unfortunately, within 50m of the mark I got a penalty from the jury for sheet pumping and had to do a 720.

“Because it was so close to the first top mark, the pack closed me up and I was put in bad wind with limited options to escape — I got passed by maybe 25 boats.”

Winter club racing continues on the Derwent tomorrow, with Bellerive Yacht Club’s second race in its Hobart Jaguar Land Rover Winter Series.

The BYC series has attracted 25 entries for the five-race club event with strong competition in all three divisions, with a boat-for-boat duel expected to continue in Division 1 between the two Mumm 36s, B&G Advantage (Jeff Cordell) and TasPaints (Ian Stewart).