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Sailors
sunk
Army defends ADF sailing title
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.
Further information can be obtained from Service sailing representatives:
CAPT Paul Field (Navy), WO1 Dean Johns (Army) and Ross McDonald
(Air Force).
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