Northshore Marine Lead Day 1 of the 2013 Parks Victoria Melges 24 Australian Championships

There was plenty of anticipation on the start line of race one of the Parks Victoria Australian Melges 24 Championships.  During prestart the fleet were weaving through Corio bay eagerly waiting for marks to be laid, checking the wind, testing sails and fine tuning techniques. This high calibre fleet is the largest to contest the title to date and are in campaign mode for the 2014 Melges 24 Worlds hosted by RGYC.

Day one and Geelong turned on a beautiful warm day with eight to ten knots of wind from the East.  Straight off the blocks in race one were the extremely focused Team Nixon Accru, their eye on the prize after a second to Warwick Rooklyn Bandit at the 2012 Championships. Kevin Nixon’s polished family crew focused on boat speed and led for the race.   Chris Links Northshore Marine sailing with Olympic gold medallist and class expert Nathan Wilmot threw what they could at Accru applying continual pressure.  In true one design form Accru controlled the race to eventually take the gun, Northshore Marine on their hip, a good start and strong performance by Damian Huon Huey II secured third.

After a general recall in race two and a tricky first work, Julian Plante Kaito lead around the top mark after a big left hand shift, South Australian team Dave Alexander Foxtrot, Bandit, and Northshore Marine fighting for a place.  With little room for error it looked like Kaito left the door open at times sailing upwind to the left side of the course but were able to shut the fleet out to win the race. Northshore Marine on the second work picked off Bandit and Foxtrot to round the mark in second place overlapped with Bandit and was able to hold them off down the run, coming second to Kaito, Bandit third with only one minute separating the top five boats. 

Boat of the Day flag was awarded to the consistent efforts of Links Northshore Marine team, which also includes 2010 National Champions Heath Walters, John Suriano and Harley Walters.

Race Results http://www.topyacht.net.au/results/2013/fos/mel24/SGrp14.htm

Festival of Sails http://festivalofsails.com.au/

International Melges 24 Association of Australia http://www.melges24association.yachting.org.au/