Over the weekend 27 & 28th April Paradise Radio Yacht Club hosted the 2024 DF65 Queensland Championships held on their Emerald Lakes Course at the Gold Coast. This was a well supported and exciting weekend for the premier QLD DF65 sailing event of the year.
There were 35 entrants with 9 clubs represented including several interstate competitors. The event was held in typical Qld conditions, mainly fine, loads of sunshine and near perfect autumn weather with light to medium southerly breezes. Except for the last race of the weekend conditions changed dramatically with a sudden rain squall appearing. Winds increased rapidly up to 25 knots for a period and then dropping off to almost zero as the race started. This created some excitement amongst the fleet before the last race. After sailing for the last 2 days with A+rigs, making change, and the correct choice caught a few competitors out with their decisions, making the final race result an interesting outcome.
The event was organized and run with 3 divisions of competition Open, Masters, Grand Masters.
Congratulations to Mike Jefferys in first place reclaiming his open division Queensland title, a fine second place to Andrew Gibbs, followed by Daniel Bergan in third rounding out the podium. These sailors showed consistent results once again to follow up their fine performances at the recent Australian titles. Well done gentlemen and good luck to Andrew who is a member of the Australia team in the upcoming world titles in Sweden next month.
The Masters division was won by the youthful Wayne Cowling from the Sunshine Coast Radio sailing Club. The most respected division in the DF class The Grand Master Division was won convincingly by the evergreen and spritely Bob McKinnon from Paradise Radio yacht Club. We look forward to having their competitive spirit and company at these events for many years to come.
The event was well managed by PRYC and its experienced team of volunteers. Their Club Commodore Rex Scott was in a dual roll over this weekend and acted as PRO for the event. His experience and authority ensured the event ran smoothly and was enjoyed by all involved.
What was most evident over the weekend was the friendly, competitive nature in which the sailing was conducted. With ample amounts of laughter and banter to be heard coming from the shore. There was great support shared between fellow competitors both on and off the water throughout the weekend. This is what best describes DF Sailing and makes it such an enjoyable class to compete within.
Thank you to all the competitors who took part and all the officials for their valued time which made for a very successful 2024 DF65 Qld title event.
Don Horton
QRYA
DF65 Class Coordinator