By
Michael Weaver
PERFECT sailing conditions made for a great racing as Army sailed
away with the ADF Inter-Service Sailing Championship off Rushcutters
Bay in Sydney from September 30 to October 5.
Army
sailors successfully defended their title from the 2001 championships
with a 3-2 victory over Navy in a best of five races.
Vice-president
of the regatta and Army sailing representative WO1 Dean Johns
said the conditions couldn’t have been better, with winds
ranging from five knots up to 30 knots and no rain.
The
regatta began with match racing to select inter-service teams,
which saw a Navy team from HMAS Watson on the boat Alexander taking
line honours from the Air Force on St Marlo in second and Army
on Taccata taking third.
Ten
boats of various sizes contested this section of the regatta,
with a handicap system used to restrict the faster boats.
From
there, inter-service teams were selected, which basically comprised
of personnel from the top three match racing boats.
But
while team members may have been similar, results proved otherwise,
with the Army sailors getting the better of Navy and Air Force
in the preliminary action to decide the two finalists.
First
up saw Navy defeat Air Force three races to nil, before Army fronted
up and out-sailed Navy 3-1. Army then defeated Air Force 3-0 to
make a showdown between Army and Navy for the ADF title.
In
a close overall contest, Army won 3-2, though race margins saw
the more convincing victories go to Army.
WO1
Johns said the event was a complete success, with the 60 entrants
being the best turnout in the event’s current format of the
last three years.
Other
events on the ADF sailing calendar include the Inter-Service Tasar
Regatta over the Christmas to New Year period, while a ADF sailing
team has also been invited to compete in New Zealand at the end
of October.
