Black But sails to 125 victory

A strong contingent of 125s from various metropolitan sailing clubs competed in their State championships held on the Easter weekend at the Princess Royal Sailing Club.

After the bitterly cold weather on Friday, when Albany was blasted with hail storms, Saturday turned out a little better but there was still a chill in the air.

Apart from the 125s, Lasers, Mirrors, Sharks, Optimists and trailer sailors competed for championship and consistency titles.

All up about 36 yachts graced the harbour waters for six heats, four were sailed on Saturday with the other two on Sunday morning.

A total of 21 boats competed for the 125s State championship, which was won by Ferry Lanter and crew Kate Jones aboard Black But.

Second place went to Nicholas Marian with crew Alexander Thompson in Going Gonzo, third was Trouble Maker skippered by Scott Fallows with crew Tom Ainge and fourth place went to Simon and Tyson Barwood in Under Pressure.

In the consistency results for 125s, Venemous sailed by Tilly Fisher was first ahead of Black But and third went to Consuming Passions sailed by Monika Eyer.

The Laser champion was Max Tate who sailed Up successfully across the weekend.

Second place was taken by local skipper Murray Howson in Clock Towers and third place was filled by Robert Cronin, from PRSC, in The Italian Job.

Cronin took out the consistency results with The Italian Job and Howson grabbed third in the same standings.

Mirrors championship was won in fine style by William Wise, who won three heats in Twixta with Arien Pens as crew.

Second was Doug Pianta, who sailed solo on 2pudd from Bombora, skippered by Peter Judge, with Janine Judge a crew in third.

In the Mirror consistency Pianta was the winner with 2pudd, second was Judge in Bombora and third went to Little Blue skippered by Craig Hughes.

Sharks champion was Simon Walker sailing Destiny to aplomb, winning all six heats while Steve Knight sailing Ku De Ka and Sarah Liddiard in Duel finished second and third respectively.

Walker was again successful in Sharks consistency ahead of Duel and Ku De Ka.

Optimists sailed in only two heats on Sunday morning, which resulted in Laurence Mitchell winning both with Danger Mouse and Max Tickell second.

Trailer Sailors sailed in all six heats and Geoff Oliver in Excitable was too big and too fast for Stephen Brown in Mary Maitland, who was second, and Josh Hughe,who shared the tiller with Chris Oldham.

Excitable easily won each heat while in consistency Joker won, with Mary Maitland in second place and Excitable taking third spot.