Bourke on a charge

Hamilton Island boss tied on points with the leader at the UON SB20 Worlds

Wednesday December 19th 2012, Author: Lisa Ratcliff, Location: Australia

Places at the UON SB20 World Championship at Hamilton Island have shuffled with each race, but there has been one constant - Oleg Zherebtsov and Rodion Luka’s Team Russia, which has occupied the top spot since day two.

This afternoon Glenn Bourke and his Club Marine crew of Andrew York and Greg Macallansmith caught up to the leaders. Bourke’s second, fourth and bullet in the last race on day five has put them on equal 33 points with Team Russia and second on a countback.

The formidable Russian crew dropped their worst result, a 15th in race 10. They and the Australian Club Marine team led by Hamilton Island’s CEO are heading into the final day pressure cooker barely separated.

“I will try to focus as much as I can,” said Luka this afternoon. “There is a lot of pressure but I have experience. Tomorrow will be like the first day of racing. We will have dinner tonight and save some energy for tomorrow.”

Bourke says his latest results reflect the fact he’s getting comfortable with the level of competition. “I’m getting into the rhythm of the event, it’s coming at the right time and we are improving a little bit each day. Tomorrow will be won and lost on who gets off the start line well.”

Bourke, a multiple Laser world champion, says the buzz of international competition is a thrilling experience. “It’s the most exciting thing you can do in your year”.

Geoff Carveth’s WDK (GBR) is third on 36 points and still in the hunt while Robert Greenhalgh’s The Beard is fourth overall with 49 points.

The penultimate day of competition produced more superb sailing in the tropical Queensland Whitsunday Islands in the 10 knot average NE breezes.

Race 8 was a clean start. Race 9 was another general recall for the jumpy fleet at the sharp end of their world title followed by individual recalls for two SB20s, including the aptly named Still Out of Control (Mark Wolfenden), which tangled with the Italian SB20 Nuri while trying to re-start.

The top mark roundings were loud and lively as the fleet bunched up, and the downhill runs were spectacular with a straight line of spinnakers against the afternoon glare of another perfect summer’s day. The area is crying out for water but the afternoon thunderstorms typical of this time of year have stayed away.

Sydney-based Craig Nicholls picked up his best result of the series, an eighth in race 8 with Typhoon. Nicholls has paired up with Scott Glaskin, a 16ft skiff state champion from Royal Perth Yacht Club and Morgan White, one of Australia’s most sought after bowmen whose dance card is full for the Australian summer calendar including the Rolex Sydney Hobart, Club Marine Pittwater & Coffs Harbour Regatta, Festival of Sails and Farr 40s.

Having never sailed an SB20 previously, Nicholls and his cohorts had 45 mins training two days out and two hours the day before the world championship commenced last Friday.

“Coming into the world titles the Typhoon crew were happy to wing it, falling back on their experience in other classes,” admitted Nicholls.

Two of the crews black flagged in race 7 yesterday, after being called OCS, were reinstated last night and this morning. The Beard and Ben Saxton’s Bango Powered by SLAM sought redress and the international jury decided in favour of the two British crews. Both have been granted average points up to the end of race 10.

The forecast for tomorrow’s final two races is SE to NE winds 10-15 knots. Principal Race Officer Denis Thompson has scheduled an 1100 start so the SB20s being shipped back to Europe can be packed into containers before most crews head off Friday to be home in time for Christmas.

Results:

Pos	Boat	Skipper	Nat	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	Tot
1	Team Russia	Rodion Luka	RUS	6	4	1	3	2	8	4	3	2	[15.0]	33
2	Club Marine	Glenn Bourke	AUS	3	[10.0]	4	5	6	2	6	2	4	1	33
3	WKD	Geoff Carveth	GBR	[17.0]	5	2	1	10	1	1	4	8	4	36
4	The Beard	Robert Greenhalgh	GBR	4	8	[15.0]	9	9	4	6.0G	1	1	7	49
5	Bango Powered bySLAM	Ben Saxton	GBR	1	1	9	11	1	6	7.0G	[15.0]	5	11	52
6	One Design Sailing	Ian Brown	AUS	8	15	3	4	5	5	[43.0B]	6	7	2	55
7	Hyeres2013	Rouxel Thomas	FRA	[13.0]	6	10	8	11	13	2	11	3	3	67
8	Aquaholics	Anna Basalkina	RUS	12	7	[14.0]	6	3	9	8	7	12	5	69
9	ALTEA	Andrea Racchelli	ITA	10	3	[24.0]	7	13	7	5	10	13	9	77
10	Stenghele	Pietro Negri	ITA	5	2	8	15	[22.0A]	3	3	13	22	22	93
11	sportsboatworld.com	Jerry Hill	GBR	2	16	[17.0]	2	8	11	7	17	17	16	96
12	Darling Associates	Chris Darling	SCO	15	9	12	10	7	17	19	[21.0]	11	6	106
13	Harry powered by Und	Andrew Oddie	GBR	21	23	6	[35.0]	4	16	16	5	10	10	111
14	Karabos	Nick Rogers	AUS	11	17	[21.0]	13	19	10	11	16	14	13	124
15	UBER3	Adrian Peach	GBR	9	11	27	[31.0]	20	12	9	12	6	21	127
16	Sailboat Deliveries	Sarah Allan	GBR	7	25	32	[43.0S]	31	14	10	9	15	14	157
17	New Caledonia1	TUGDUAL Piriou	FRANC	22	19	19	[28.0]	12	20	14	19	24	23	172
18	And Then	Peter Jones	AUS	[34.0]	12	7	30	17	18	24	20	27	19	174
19	Zeus	Ed Russo	FRA	28	14	11	25	21	22	15	[32.0]	9	31	176
20	Typhoon	Craig Nicholls	AUS	[33.0]	29	25	21	22	19	13	8	28	12	177
21	Flirtatious	Chris Dare	AUS	18	18	18	17	[33.0]	21	29	14	19	26	180
22	Black Rat	Troy Forrest	AUS	16	21	[31.0]	12	18	23	21	31	21	30	193
23	WYSIWYG V	Stephen Fries	AUS	20	20	5	20	34	24	12	25	34	[37.0]	194
24	New Caledonia2	Alan Quere	FRANC	[31.0]	27	22	14	28	15	22	30	25	27	210
25	Marine Tech	Gareth Owen	UAE	32	22	[42.0]	29	25	32	20	29	16	8	213
26	Still Out of control	Mark Wolfenden	AUS	14	30	20	24	16	29	27	38	[39.0]	24	222
27	Jump!	Dennis Winstanley	AUS	25	[33.0]	30	16	24	25	17	27	31	29	224
28	Blue Tac	Trevor Martin	AUS	26	31	13	26	29	28	35	[36.0]	26	20	234
29	Borgo Scopeto	Giulia Tobia	ITA	[38.0]	13	37	27	30	27	31	26	30	18	239
30	Dart Vader	Mark Prince	AUS	23	[37.0]	34	18	32	37	25	24	29	17	239
31	Wedgewood	David Graney	AUS	30	28	[36.0]	34	23	33	28	22	23	25	246
32	Geronimo	Simon Hume	GBR	[43.0R]	40	26	23	14	26	18	33	36	32	248
33	Cube II	Martijn Buitenhuis	NED	24	24	23	22	27	35	[43.0B]	28	33	33	249
34	Purple Patch	Callum Burns	AUS	19	32	28	37	35	[43.0B]	43.0B	18	20	28	260
35	Got a bit on	Matt Wenke	AUS	27	26	40	40	26	[43.0F]	26	23	18	38	264
36	Mountain Goat Racing	Mike McLean	AUS	35	34	16	33	[42.0]	31	23	35	35	34	276
37	Chota Hazri	Chris Kameen	AUS	29	35	33	19	[41.0]	30	30	37	32	36	281
38	UON Hamilton Island	Tim Henderson	AUS	36	36	[41.0]	32	39	39	33	40	37	35	327
39	NURI	Andrea Zanforlin	ITA	37	38	38	38	37	34	32	[41.0]	40	40	334
40	Squalo Bianco	Paris Stowell	AUS	39	[42.0]	39	39	36	36	34	34	38	39	334
41	Sidewinder	Declan Keogh	AUS	41	39	29	36	40	38	[43.0B]	39	41	41	344
42	Oceanburo Discover S	John Gardiner	AUS	40	41	35	41	38	40	36	[42.0]	42	42	355