Final and Petit Final Report

They say that anything can happen in a final series, and the finals of the Australian Youth Match Racing Championship (AYMRC) 2008 lived up to expectation.

As the competitors enjoyed a later breakfast, the Race Committee AP’d for the fourth consecutive day because of light breeze. Day four would prove to be challenging for the four skippers, as the NE breeze was light and shifty.

In the Petit-Final, which decided third and fourth place, the first match between the two proved to be an absolute thriller. Whitty appeared to have the match done and dusted, but was caught out celebrating a little too early. As he had done in their match in round two, Searle forced Whitty to jybe metres out from the line, a jybe that Whitty’s team took too wide and sent the DSC’s boat parallel to the line. Searle took full advantage and sailed under Whitty to take race one by four seconds.

With his tail now up in the air, Searle came out hungry in race two and threw everything at Whitty in the pre-start. Whitty had the better wind as the gun sounded, and both boats headed off for the top mark. After rounding the top mark in front, Whitty built up a handy lead of three seconds at the bottom mark. Searle once again failed to sit back and let the Petit final go to a third race, engaging Whitty in a tacking duel up to the top mark.

As the two boats rounded, it was Searle by five seconds. On the final downwind leg, Whitty could only watch on and wonder what could have been as Searle picked up a fresh breeze to sail home and into third place by 25 seconds.

In the AYMRC Final, CYCA’s Ryan was highly favoured to win his second consecutive title. Ryan had some tough competition going into the final with RSYS’s Quartly in top form.

Race one of the final saw Ryan look to attack Quartly early, Ryan benefitting from being in this position before, as he forced a nervous Quartly into a costly penalty during the pre-start routine. Quartly did his best to try and catch Ryan, but it was Ryan who led from start to finish.

A much tighter race two saw both competitors throw everything they could at each other in the pre-start, Quartly trying to force Ryan into a penalty during a tacking duel off the back of a spectator boat. Ryan was fortunate to be given the green flag, meaning no penalty was given, and worked his way to the start line. Ryan got the better of the pin end of the start line, and took off up the course with a slight lead. He continued to build on the lead throughout the race, leading at every mark to eventually defeat Quartly by thirty-eight seconds to go two-nil up in the best of five series.

Race three proved to be a fitting finish to the AYMRC 2008. Quartly chose to split from Ryan after the start and headed off on the port side of the course – a decision that nearly paid off. The two boats crossed within inches around the top mark, but it was Ryan who took the lead yet again.

In the final downwind leg, it was Ryan who proved his skill as a downwind sailor, extending his lead to a sizeable margin, defeating Quartly by sixteen seconds and taking his place on the podium as back to back AYMR Champion.

The final standings for the AYMRC 2008 are:
1st – CYCA / YNSW Ryan
2nd – RSYS / YNSW Quartly
3rd – CYCA / YNSW Searle
4th – DSC / YNT Whitty
5th – RSYS / YNSW – Chapman
6th – RFBYC / YWA – Brown
7th – MDSC / YQLD – O’Rourke