Last weekend (24th and 25th of October) saw 16 of Adelaide's best IOM sailors come together for the rescheduled 2020 SA State Championships, held at Hart's Mill, Pt Adelaide.
While we couldn't welcome our usual guests from interstate, it didn't reduce the high level of racing over the 2 days.
Saturday brought the promise of strong Southerly winds....and it didn't disappoint. RO for the day, Rob, got sailing underway on time with the majority of the fleet using B rigs. The few that tried the A rig quickly regretted the decision. Paul Littledyke showed great early speed to get a couple of bullets, but the fleet wasn't far behind.
The breeze steadily increased, sending everyone scrambling for C rigs. Unfortunately Paul had an emergency work call and had to miss the rest of the day, a massive shame as he was sailing really well.
The results at the end of day 1 were really tight most tight and had a number of sailor's getting personal best results, such as Peter Mitchell claiming a race win in heat 8.
Day 2 was due to be SE and B rig, and so it was. Unfortunately SE is about the only direction the doesn't work at the Port, giving Sundays RO, Alex Hayter, plenty of headaches. We had a few delays to racing waiting for the wind to settle up until lunch.
Racing was solid during the afternoon, even if the wind didn't settle, with Alex doing the best possible job to set a fair course. Once again the racing was really tight with only a couple of boat lengths separating the top 4 in most races during the day. There was enough play in the breeze to never make you comfortable, or never feel like you were out of the race.
In the end after 28 race, Scott Mitchell took out the top spot with consistent sailing recording only 6 races outside of the top 2. Grant Edwards pushed Scott the whole way and showed he has learnt a lot and will be a strong contender over the next few years. 3rd went to Brett Osborn who was always around the mark, but needed a bit more luck at times.
Other results to mention were Peter Mitchell with his best state championships results, Alan Bessel leading the pack for the SARYC, new comer Randy Elkson in one of his first big regattas and James How who sailed really well and celebrated his 15th birthday on the Sunday of the regatta.
A huge congratulation to everyone who survived the regatta, with some solid conditions stressing boats and sailors to the limit.
As always a massive thanks to the volunteers who make the event possible. The RO's, Rob and Alex, Rescue boat drivers, scorers, Brian for the photo's and other assorted helpers, THANKYOU.
Click here to go to the event photo gallery