Four weeks into the Advanced Squad season sees the sailors well into their syllabus. With a heavy weather day last weekend and practice protests, many of these lessons came into play today for the Kellett Shield.
The weather forecast was for 20 knots from the south east and easing slightly during the afternoon. Race Officer, Stephen Ward set the course in Rushcutters Bay with racing underway at 10.30am in 15-17 knots and it stayed that way for most of the day with gusts coming across the course at regular intervals, flattening several boats on the downwind legs.
The Kellett Shield is a fleet racing regatta and consists of six races with each sailor rotating in the positions on the boat. This is the first regatta of the Advanced Squad season and the windy conditions always bring smiles to the faces of the squad who love a challenge.
With the announcement of the compulsory wearing of life jackets made at briefing, there was a collective groan from the crowd but at the end of the day it was agreed that life jackets not only keep you afloat, as Hamish found out, but also keep you warm.
Racing started in an orderly fashion but as the day progressed, the penalties given by the on-water umpires started to take effect. Starting became more aggressive and three of the six races had boats over at the start and several penalties were given for start line infringements.
By race 4 the competition was heating up and all seven boats finished with just over a minute seperating the first and last boat. The top two boats were tied and the next two boats only one point back. Race 5 saw two of the top four boats infringe on the start line, both having to take 720 degree turns when issued red flag penalties from the umpires. In Race 6, the last race of the day, the boats had all worked out who had to finish where, to take the Shield and match racing tactics came into play. Several of these incidents resulted in protest calls which were taken ashore and the final placings were delayed while the protests were heard.
Brad Kellett then presented the Kellett Shield to the winning boat, Club Marine and her crew of Evan Walker, Karen Muller, Ashlen Rooklyn and Tim Forbes-Smith. In a very friendly presentation, 40 people under one pop-top tent as the rain poured down, Brad shared the history of the Shield, which was first donated to the YSA by his father, David Kellett in 1994 when Brad was a member of the Academy, “the Shield has a long history at the YSA and I enjoy coming back each year to be part of the regatta and see the continued growth of the squads and the enthusiasm in the teams” said Brad.
The next regatta for the squads is the first regatta of the Interclub Challenge Series for the Development Match Racing Squad. The first challenge will be hosted by CYCA on Sunday 7 June when two of the YSA teams will race against two teams each from RSYS and RPAYC.
