Youth crews set hectic pace early

THE 2018 SB20 Australian Championship began in dramatic fashion yesterday.

The gauntlet was thrown down early by the youth crews with Will Cooper (Murray Jones) rounding the top mark in first place with Will Sargent (Taz Racing Team) in third and Jacob McConaghy (Warwick Dean) in fourth.

But SB20 Tasmanian President Scott Brain (Brainwave) pulled back a few places to win the first race of the day with Will Cooper and Sargent holding on to second and third respectively.

Sailing started in a 12 to 15-knot southeasterly breeze, but towards the end of the day, the wind pressure and rain increased leaving the fleet struggling to stay upright in limited visibility and with winds of over 20 knots.

Gear breakages impacted Paul Burnell (Honey Badger), Tugdual Piriou (New Caledonia) and Felicity Allison (Cook Your Own Dinner), but as the intensity on the course increased, so did the performance of current Australian SB20 Champion Brett Cooper (Aelous) and Michael Cooper (Export Roo).

“We had some fantastic rides in very shifty conditions today, with places changed often and substantially, and the competition at the top mark was pretty hectic,” Brett Cooper said.

But the Cooper-fest was not confined to the water.

Export Roo lodged a protest against Aeolus for causing a collision on the start line of Race 1.

This was upheld by the jury and saw Aelous disqualified from the race, dropping to 10th place.

Export Roo finished the day with six points, Will Sargent (Taz Racing Team) is in second place on 12 points while Scott Brain (Brainwave) is in third place on 17 points.