Jet takes off

A report from race 3 of the International 14 championships in Melbourne

Race 3

After losing a days racing to the fickle weather of Melbourne in January, David Alexander and Tony Barrett in Jet today won the third races of the Sail Melbourne International 14 South Pacific and Australian National Championships at Black Rock Yacht Club. In a light and extremely difficult southerly breeze the fleet finally got away late for a morning race after five general recalls and a lengthy delay to the start whilst the breeze settled to the point that a race could be started.

Alexander starting from the pin end of the line was well advanced on the pack at the start and went onto the left side of the course which retained the greatest amount of pressure as the first beat descended into a lottery as the pressure evaporated and the fleet became aquainted with the pattern that would predominate for the rest of the day.

Alexander coming of the pin end went hard left and retained the greatest wind as the breeze faded and the holes swallowed competitors at random across the course. Mark Elsworth and Tim Moorhouse to leeward of Alexander as the fleet returned from the left side of the course made it to the first windward mark in second behind Alexander with Grant Geddes in third place. Those that hard gone right where the pressure had been in all of the pre and recalled starts were buried and left to chase the leaders.

The first run saw leaders searching for the leeward marks and hedging bets by running down the centre of the course. Order at the first leeward mark remainder unchanged.

The next work saw the leaders in a tacking duel up the next work looking to get and advantage over each other. Elsworth came out on top from the right side of the course crossing Alexander for the lead near the windward mark. Elsworth lead around the reaches with the following pack of Alexander and Geddes bring pressure down the Elsworth as the pack closed on the leeward mark.

A tight battle ensued up the next work with boats swapping places as the pressure and angles continued to switch from side to side. Alexander resumed the lead and went onto to record his first victory as the race was shortened at the next leeward mark. Elsworth held onto to a close second from Geddes with Irwin in a distant fourth, Coutts in fifth and Krstic in Sixth.

Race 4

The runway on the left side of the course was again in action as Dave Alexander in Jet, Alan Vickery in WAM, Anthony Anderson and David Hughes in Jungle Fire, Stephen Edmunds and Mark Woddruffe in Queer Eye for the Straight Guy with Richard Eckberg and Grant Geddes headed the field after working the left side of the first beat to win the game of chance that was the first work. Significant shifts in angle and pressure were once again the order of the day as the course saw shifts of 30 and more degrees.

The leaders once again had difficulty finding the marks and lead the field into the middle of the course, the fleet was tightly packed at the leeward mark as they carried pressure into the bottom of the course. As the pack consolidated at the bottom of the run a swift exit via the right hand buoy saw Irwin back in contention for the lead.

Alexander worked the left again with Geddes out sea with Alexander leading at the top mark by 50 m over Geddes and Irwin. The first reach was tight with Alexander having to drop to make the mark letting Geddes into the lead with Jet and Irwin Sails following.

Geddes went on to lead to the finish doing the next run comfortably covering, with Irwin Sails leading Alexander into the bottom mark and going on to cover the remainder of the race for second place. Fourth was Greg Coutts in More Grunt with Mark Krstic and Rob Oshlack in fifth and James McDonald and Jason King in JKM in sixth place.
The forecast for the next days racing on Wednesday is ugly with major cold fronts expected across the race course.

Pos	Boat	Skipper	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Tot
1	Extreme Makeover	David McGeoch	Geoff Tomamichel	3	-12	9	1	1	1	15
2	Ocean Graphics	Craig Padman	Tim Berg	7	2	-19	7.5	17	7	40.5
3	Target	Ray Hancock	Matt Balmer	10	8	-26	17	8	8	51
4	Queereye for the St.	Stephen Edmunds	Michael Woodroffe	6	6	-16	14	13	13	52
5	Cool as Cucumber	Alex Newman	Matt Turner	12	1	22	-25	2	16	53
6	Snatch	Grant Geddes	Dan Wilsdon	(33.00O)	5	8	11	5	24	53
7	Scorn of the Woman	Mark Krstic	Rob Oshlack	20	9	-24	12	7	5.5	53.5
8	Longbow	Sean Stevens	Brian Long	2	16	3	9	26.00S	(35.00C)	56
9	Donkey on the Edge	Jason Beebe	Chris Turner	19	4	-27	21.5	12	4	60.5
10	Scapa Flow	Mark Elsworth	Tim Moorhouse	13	10.5	5	-28	11	21	60.5
11	Irwin Sails	Lindsay Irwin	Andrew Perry	21	14	13.5	10	4	-22	62.5
12	More Grunt	Greg Coutts	Brett Taylor	-28	15	17	7.5	6	18	63.5
13	Jason King Marine	James McDonald	Jason King	24	30	(33.00O)	3	3	11	71
14	Jet	David Alexander	Tony Barrett	25	17	4	6	(35.00C)	20	72
15	Scream	Brent Frankcombe	Wayne Frankcombe	5	(35.00C)	1	4	35.00C	29.00F	74
16	b. Snappy.Com	Warren Sare	Rob Murdoch	26	7	(33.00O)	19	10	12	74
17	The Pest	Roger Blasse	Andrew Gilligan	22	-29	28	2	9	15	76
18	Carbon Concepts	Robert Vickery	Chris Vaughan	14	13	15	(33.00F)	15	19	76
19	Slime	Andrew Low	James Marshall	-30	19	13.5	21.5	18	5.5	77.5
20	Great Leap Forward	Richard Ekberg	Don Hart	11	3	23	15	26.00F	(35.00C)	78
21	October Sky	Alan Vickery	Andrew Wilson	23	10.5	-25	23	14	10	80.5
22	Argo	Stewart Vickery	Tim Whittal	16	23	18	-27	16	9	82
23	Paddy Wagon	Matt Low	Derek Layfield	4	20	20	16	(26.00S)	23	83
24	Rescue Me	Craig Macaulay	Keith Lockey	8	-28	6	18	26.00F	26	84
25	Jungle Fire	Anthony Anderson	David Hughes	18	-26	10	13	26.00F	17	84
26	Floreat Pica	Phil Harris	Justin Walford	17	22	11	-26	26.00S	14	90
27	Lovebone	Stuart Sloss	Dave Mooney	29	18	7	5	(35.00C)	35.00C	94
28	Magic	Philip Strong	Jeffre Klemm	1	27	33.00F	(35.00C)	35.00C	3	99
29	Sliver	Brec Mitton	Russell Keal	27	24	12	20	(35.00C)	25	108
30	Kids Overboard	John Taylor	Martyn Tribe	31	25	2	29	26.00S	(35.00C)	113
31	Carbon Comet	Luke Devine	Darryl Everett	15	32.00F	21	24	(35.00C)	35.00C	127
32	W.O.W.	Graeme Everett	Gary Sloss	9	21	33.00F	30	(35.00C)	35.00C	128
33	Passion Fingers	David Hayter	Alan Pollitt	(35.00C)	35.00C	35.00C	35.00C	35.00C	2	142
34	Living Fabrics	Rick De Jong	Darren Upton	(35.00C)	35.00C	35.00C	33.00F	35.00C	29.00F	167