After a close and hard fought series of 8 races on Port Phillip last weekend, the MONJON
2014 Victorian State titles was won Dave Suda sailing Pacemaker. Sailing with Dave are
Herschel, Luke, Sam and Rachel, pretty much the same team that has been doing it for the
last 10+ years, perhaps the only team in the fleet to have been together for so long – and it
showed. Dave had to drop a second place, it doesn’t get much better than that.
Dave keeps his cards close to his chest with a glimmer of a smile as he tries to keep a straight
face about his plans. But I am the keeper of the royalty tags, so I know who is getting new
sails, Dave – new set, Hugo new sails, the girls new genoa, mmmm … well we had a new
kite and reasonably new sails.
Says Dave of the racing on Saturday, “After six months of arguably the best summer season
for as long as I can remember, we finished with two perfect days, racing J24’s as hard as we
can, against 16 other J24 crews who used every ounce of speed and skill to will their boat
ahead of the next, on a course as well managed as any sailor could hope. I feel sorry for the
J24 members that didn’t sail this weekend, for they missed another beauty.
Saturday had four races and four different winners, with Gridlock Doug Watson and co
taking heat one honours in a tight three way tussle from Pacemaker and Convicts Revenge.
Race 2 was a nail biter with Convicts Revenge holding the narrowest of margins over
Pacemaker at every turn and they defended multiple attacks on the final downwind leg to
cross the line 2 seconds ahead.
Race 3 saw another black flag and this time Convicts Revenge had a lapse in concentration
on the restart and crossed early, meanwhile the largely female crew on Hyperactive had a
brilliant start to hold a comfortable lead all the way to the finish.
Race 4 and wind increased to 18 knots for the last race of the day. We eventually started
second row directly behind Hugo after we left our port approach late. We couldn’t find a gap
anywhere near the pin in this much improved and aggressive starting J24 fleet. We tacked
very shortly after the start and ducked a few sterns to find some clear air and thankfully met a
15 degree right hand shift and extra pressure, thanks Huey! The usual suspects of Pacemaker,
Convicts, By the Lee and Bruschetta VI led the fleet home.”
But let’s step back a bit. A full week’s training and boat preparation was put on hold as
Melbourne had its wettest week in living memory, if nothing else the deck was clean,
although there was the distinct possibility that there might now be fish living inside the boat.
Ron Thompson takes us on his journey to the states. ” Friday was spent with bucket and
sponge getting the water out. And the forecast was 25 to 30 knots southerly with big waves
and rain again. Oh, lets just turn up and see, with a new crew with one day training and
nothing in heavy conditions. Got to get up early Sat morning at 6am and do another walk
around the block to lose ½ kilo as weigh in finishes at 8am. What an ungodly hour. We are
struggling with crew weight as everyone lied last week, even me and although I lost 3 kgs,
got to lose a bit more. And it will be cold and wet on my walk! No … surprise, actually it is
not raining and I can see clouds in the sky after only seeing grey all week. Ah, but I bet its is
blowing hell on the water. Arriving at the club and the burgees are flying nicely in a 12 knot
wind. What happened to the 30 knots, must be coming later !”
Brendan Lee (3rd overall) leads us into Sunday. “Sunday arrived and again with beautiful
blue skies and light South Easterly winds, or was it South, or East, or South South East.
Okay let’s pick south and head out to sea on leg 1. Bollocks wrong choice! Next upwind leg,
okay there is more South East in this, let’s go left. Bollocks wrong choice and so it went on
every leg. Race 6 was a bit like race 5, a late surge on the final leg saw us scramble into a
respectable position. Race 7 and the wind clocked to 180 degrees and freshening. Right this
time I am going out to sea. Hey presto it worked – 2nd place but behind Dave AGAIN! 4th
race, much like the 3rd…”
So we all get our few moments of glory, in race 6 Jet’s came knocking. I decide that there is
a big lift on the port layline and go for it, we picked it and Jet is around the first two marks
first. All good and happy and Matty is now satisfied that his trip down from Sydney was
worth it. I tell the crew that all we have to do is cover. But I don’t, I tack onto what I think
is the lay before Steve does and then we get knocked while he gets lifted, around the top
mark 2nd and we did a bear away set, Dave does a gybe set behind us and by the time we
have gybed he is level with us on what is now a lay though to the finish, he just pips us. I am
consoled by the crew for at least putting us ahead – before being dumb enough to lose it.
Dave continues, “Race 7 arrived and we knew a win in the next race would be enough and
then we see Convicts doing penalty turns with two minutes to the start. We happily refocus
and get a great start with Hugo near the pin, then tack out right to cover the fleet. By the end
of the race Convicts Revenge has recovered to a very credible 4th
Lee and Doug Watson. We relax now and enjoy a great final race battle with Steve Girdis in
Convicts Revenge who take the win.”
Steve is a great sailor, a sly “young” fox who smiles at me from the back of the pack (I think
I must be doing quite well to be near him) and then again from the podium – how does he do
that?
Race 8 and Dave has won overall, Steve is second and Brendan third.
Brendan, “Onto the prize giving and it was Dave and the team picking up the winners trophy
again. I could have sworn I had them 8 from 8 on the starts. My trimmer says “Okay, well I
may not be able to sail, but I can lift heavy boxes”. What more can a skipper want?
There are of course lots of stories from the front to the back, Doug MacGregor, our State
President is a voracious defender of the truth and tells it like it is. “Clear air was the only
currency worth bothering about on a start line that felt like a combination of a scrum and
an orgy. One abiding but crucifying memory; we probably came out of the final start in 4/
5 position. We couldn’t have been happier. Going to windward I bloody well had them
… and they just sailed right over me. I shrugged my shoulders and thought “National
Champion” whatreyegonnydo? Three tacks later we make our final tack on to the lay line
for the top mark …. Lovin’ every second. Over we go. Last place! We invented a new
word; absolfu**inguetlyfu**ingbefu**ingmusing. Seemed to be the story of our states. It’s
a wonder they didn’t throw me overboard. I am so grateful to them for sailing with me and
sticking by the boat through thin and thinner. The silence on our boat as we sailed in after the
last race was deafening.”
Kirby O’Brien, sailing on Vertigo and also one of the hard working committee team doing
the weigh in, with her usual dry sense of humour also made a number of observations. ” It all
went pretty smoothly, but if I had one bit of feedback to offer, I’d say “not enough stripping”.
, behind Pacemaker, By the
Honestly, it just didn’t stack up to past years. Although an honourable mention does go to
Daniel, who stripped with incredibly good humour considering that none of the rest of the
Vertigo crew bothered to wait before getting stuck into the beers, so the 800g excess was his
and his alone to deal with … albeit to the sound of our hearty encouragement and a round of
applause when the final piece of attire yielded up the last required 200g’s.
I think it’s time I offered up a few rule change suggestions to the committee, all with the idea
of introducing a little more sport into the weigh in process:
No more four member crews. Where’s the fun in watching sailors stroll confidently up to the
scales, not even bothering to remove their shoes, as they know the 400kg limit isn’t a worry
unless they convert their entire life saving into 20c coins and carry it on their backs. No more.
What this situation needs is another body and all five of said bodies can take themselves off
for a 10km run and return to approach the scales with the dread and trepidation that the rest of
us all know and love.
No more people under 60kg ! I mean really, what is more annoying to those of us with a life
of dinners still on the belt, than someone stepping up to the scales, registering an elephantine
57kg and moaning that they’ve gained since last regatta?
OK, so to the racing…well let’s see, race overview…I lost a shoe (Vice Versa and Fly Away
Jay – you guys rock for randomly finding my missing shoe in the middle of the bay and
bringing it back!), I got splashed a bit, pulled some ropes, forgot to pull some other ropes,
got yelled at, got annoyed when a boat tacked in front of us and when we yelled “Protest!
We had to change course”, he turned to us with the smile of a Cheshire cat and replied “Did
not.” Well! May I take this chance to say simply… “Did so.” You know who you are!!!
And that’s it really. We came outright last when it mattered – the race back to the crane. I
think I have new life goal – to get into the dock before Pacemaker is safely tucked away into
its place on the hardstand.”
A huge thanks to the J24 State Committee, Sandy YC, all the volunteers and especially to the
sponsors, MONJON in particular, Anchor Marine, Bike Factory Outlet, Smart Marketing,
Synergy Audio – and also to Hugo for the delivery of 25 logo-printed protest flags!
What other regatta supplies the protest flags !!!
Well, in the end the Thommo Cup was a fizzer this year and Jet has finally beaten Ron and
Kirsty and no one ahead of us is a slug so I guess that’s a good series result. I’ve locked up
the trophy cabinet again, let the dust rule supreme. There will always be another regatta.
The MONJON Victorian State Championships have proven to be the best regatta of the year
again, the ultimate J24 season grand finale.
Go here for the full results http://www.syc.com.au/raceresults/1314/kb/14jstates/series.htm
Written by Simon with help from Dave, Brendan, Doug and Kirby, thanks guys.