News from Australia

David Bull writes: Our summer sailing season commenced early September and fleets around the country are looking forward to another bumper Finn sailing year. The highlight of the season is our Ronstan Australian Championships which will be held at Davey’s Bay Yacht Club located on the beautiful Mornington Peninsular, Melbourne from 11th-15th January 2024.

Prior to the Nationals most fleets will conduct their respective State Championships, although here in sunny Queensland we held our States in July. 

Our website www.finnclass.com.au has all the dates for the respective regattas.

The Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron was host to the Yachtshare 2023 International Finn Queensland State Championships held on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th July. The event attracted 41 entries which included 4 from New Zealand, 5 from NSW, 8 from Victoria, 2 from South Australia and 1 from Perth.

There were 3 races programmed each day with the first starting at a chilly 8.30am. This is done to take advantage of the westerly winds we generally get in the morning at this time of the year. The winds then generally fade around midday.

Saturday greeted us with a light westerly and lots of cloud cover. These conditions allowed Principal Race Officer Guy Morton to successfully complete 3 races.

Racing was extremely close, however 2012 Olympian, Brendan Casey started the series with 1, 1, 7, followed by Rob McMillan with 2, 5, 2 and under 23 sailor Jack Eickmeyer with 4, 4, 1.

Everyone was ashore around midday and 60 plus people including our volunteers and PRO enjoyed our traditional “World Famous Lunch” in the Bistro. We also had our local member Joan Pease join us.

The new catering team did a fantastic job with quality food, great presentation and excellent service. Lunch commenced with antipasto plates followed by skewered platters, then seafood platters of oysters, fresh prawns and bugs and followed with salt and pepper squid chips and garden salads. This was all complemented with beer, white and red wine. All included in the entry fee! 

Without exception everyone had a great afternoon, some a bit longer than others.

Sunday we were blessed with perfect Brisbane winter weather. A light westerly, lots of sunshine and warm water. As predicted with the sun warming up the day the breeze eventually faded however Guy managed to get in two races with the last one a shortened course…a very sensible decision.

Plenty of boats to tow all the Finns home and most back on the lawn by noon. This allowed time for our interstate friends to pack boats before presentation.

Mark and Austin from the sailing office set up the Girdis room with the podiums, plenty of chairs and the the PA system against the backdrop of the lush rigging lawns. These two people always do a terrific job. Our very own Spikey Mikey Middelton waved is magic once again with fabulous video and stills coverage of the regatta which were displayed at presentation and around the video screens at the club.

Master of Ceremonies was Bradley Ginnivan who has kindly done this role for us over many years, got presentation under way. Thank you Bradley.

All the volunteers were called to the podium area and were presented with a specially labeled wine by our new Commodore and Finn sailor, John Warlow. Guy Morton also thanked the volunteers and everyone involved with the regatta.

Next the Under 23 sailors were presented their prizes by Commodore John Warlow. Phil Chadwick, our IFAA President, made special mention of these young sailors and in particular the fund the association has set up to send a young sailor overseas to the Silver Cup (U23 World Championship) each year.

Finally the main presentation got under way with first, second and third presented, followed by the masters categories and the annual mid fleet trophy.

The overall winner was presented with the magnificent solid silver perpetual trophy which has recently been refurbished. A big thank you to Noel “Patto” Paterson who spent numerous hours restoring the base and supplying many coats of two pack. It will be prominently displayed at the club.

Rob McMillan, International President of the IFA in his acceptance speech made special mention of our wonderful volunteers and the world class facilities at RQYS. He also made special mention of the very professional on water team we have running first class regattas.

On behalf of the International Finn Association of Australia Inc. we would like to thank  QYS and everyone involved, particularly our wonderful volunteers for running a very successful Championship.

1          Rob McMillan - AUS 2
2          Jack Eickmeyer - AUS 44
3          Brendan Casey - AUS - 41

Under 23
1st - Jack Eickmeyer - AUS 44
2nd - Isaac Armstrong - NZL 692
3rd - Sam Ede - AUS 121

1st Masters - Brendan Casey - AUS 41
1st Grand Masters - Rob McMillan - AUS 2
1st Grand Grand Masters - Kelvin Holdt - AUS 168
1st Legend - David Bull - AUS 300
John Shallvey Perpetual Mid fleet trophy - Trevor Martin - AUS 240