Results
Top 5
1st Adam Beattie -Jamie Lietner
2nd Dale ,Blair Mitchell
3rd Warren Guinea-Marja Van Helden
4th Luke Mcmullen-Jes
5th Michael Guinea-Viv Haydon
Regatta Report
The Qld F18 State titles were held at Mission beach between Cairns and Townsville on the weekend on the 23rd of October. A total of ten F18s competed, with boats from Brisbane, Airlie beach, Townsville, Cairns and Port Douglas. A total of five races were held over the weekend. The first two were held on Saturday morning in about 10knots of breeze and sunny conditions. Warren and Marja were leading the first race but decided to do an extra lap as they can not count to 2, this allowed Luke McMullen to claim 1st place. The next race Warren and Marja won convincingly, followed by Adam and Jamie.
The Round dunk Island race followed on Saturday afternoon, in about 15knots of breeze. The big outgoing tide made for some choppy conditions around the back of the island. Adam Beatie narrowly lead Dale Mitchell at the top of the island followed by Warren Guinea. Once the spinakers were raised for the long downwind home Adam increased his lead and won the marathon in a time of 80 plus minutes which is the fastest in ten years time. Dale Mitchell sailed a great race to take second place. Warren and Marja just finished ahead of Michael Guinea to claim third spot. The run home was great with big seas and strong winds, but once around the back of the island, the seas became flat which made for a quick trip to the finish line.
Sunday saw about 12-14 knots of breeze. Adam and Jamie showed us all a clean pair of transoms and easily won the both races.
Training
Adam and Jamie have been in Europe for six months this year working at the Nacra factory and sailing at all the major regattas. This experience has made them a lot quicker and showed us all how much they have improved. We held a training afternoon on Friday, which was followed by the annual trip to Dunk island resort for some quiet drinks. This year you could hardly see the island due to the rain and 20 plus knots blowing acros the bay.
The fleet in North queensland is steadily growing with three or more new boats to follow soon. Boats are sailed in Airlie Beach, Townsville, Cairns and Port Douglas and are mostly Nacra Infusions, but one Hobie Tiger competed this year and we all spent some time showing him some favourable tips.
The Mission beach regatta is a great event combining standard races with a true ocean marathon. It is one of the last remaining events of its kind in Australia. In addition we would like to thank the following sponsors for there help in donating trophies for the F-18 Qld state titles.
Harken
Ullman Sails-Airlie Beach
Nacra NQ
Harken
Ullman Sails-Airlie Beach
Nacra NQ
Regards Warren
