Wet Tech Rigging J/24 Short Course Championships

Thank you to Mick Reynolds for this report: The June long weekend saw the running of the Cronulla Sailing Club J/24 Short Course Regatta in cold though fine (almost) conditions with wind ranging from 18-3 knots over the two days of sailing. Competitors arrived from as far afield as Sandringham Yacht Club, the southern home of J/24 yacht racing in Australia, with one boat Jet (Simon Grain) and another crew lead by ‘Mr. J/24’ Hugo Ottaway (both J/24 supporters of the Cronulla event for many years), and also Wildfire (Janette Syme) and Marc Van Dinther (Pinot) made the journey from the Harbour and Botany Bay to sail in the challenging inshore conditions of Bate Bay, Cronulla. Our focus this year was to welcome new J/24 crews to the Cronulla family. Sailmates (Steve Arnold) competed in their first regatta after purchasing their J/24 locally, also Boudicca (John Zagame), an offshore crew member and now a proud J/24 owner, enthusiastically listening and improving as the weekend progressed. Wes Batty, another local from Cronulla, brought out Pandamonium, the ever popular mooring minder to race and be involved again. So to the results: Hugo Ottaway again proved too good on scratch scoring a consistent 12 with many bullets and second places. Second for the regatta was Vertigo (Clinton Hood), the current South Australian J/24 State Champion, with Renaissance (Stephen Wright) the current Jubilee Champion and Cronulla campaigner. Performance Handicap saw Vertigo pop up one place to first, Stockcar with the forever young David Mckay in second and Renaissance in third place. The Cronulla Sailing Club would like to thank all the events supporters: Wet Tech Rigging, Macquart Marine, Aussea Sailing School, Spot-A-Yacht Photography, Newton Real Estate, Short Marine, CJ Construction, Cronulla Marina and Ryan Short Marine Services for your ongoing support to this grass roots event. Hope to see you all again at Cronulla next June for the Mid-Winter Championship. Race results are available at cronullasc.com/race-results?page=J24SC16-17/SGrp66.htm