Wednesday April 3

Lake Macquarie Crew Win 505 Australian Title Heat

Greg Searant from the Toronto Sailing Club on Lake Macquarie New South Wales sailed a masterful race at the helm of his 505 class dinghy to defeat the highly competitive International fleet for a deserved win in the first heat of the XXXX / Ten Australian championship on Townville's Cleveland Bay today.

Searant who was well supported by his crew Kane Sinclair toodk full advantage of sailing into clear wind out of the gate start to be th star performer over the first triangle.

They built their race winning chances from clever sailing in the variable 10 degree wind shifts mathcing boat speed with the multiple World title winners Krister Bergstrom of Sweden and Chris Nicholson from Toronto.

Both Bergstrom and nicholson tried all the tactical tricks to try and distract Searant and Sinclair from creating their unmatched boat speed which ultimately paved the way for a runaway win.

When sails were tensioned for the second windward beat it was clearly evident that the Toronto crew of Searant and Sinclair had the edge while Bergstrom and nicholson match raced for the minor places.

These three combinations who were obviously 'sandbagging' during Tuesdays invitation race to finish without a major result showed they were keen to take the major places today.

All three had clear wind starts which allowed them to sail into the favoured positoins as they beat into the variable 12=15 knot East South East breeze.

Searant had little trouble making sure he had the perfect wind cover on his rivals as Bergstrom and Nicholson sailed a similar course which hardly threatened his lead over the final legs of the course.

Results of the First Heat:

1. C Searant / K Sinclair AUS
2. K Bergstrom / M Westerdahl, SWE
3. D Nicholson / C Nicholson, AUS
4. H Stodart / A Baker, AUS
5. D Blatchford / J Field, AUS
6. M Upton-Brown / N Vooght, UK
7. N Long / D Williams, AUS
8. P Gray / D Machen AUS
9. D Porter / D Holden AUS
10. S Olsen / S Gregory WA


Australian 505 Championship