BRISBANE BLOG 11:
Local Hero.
There is no better feeling for a journalist than to make a prediction, and then have events proved you right. A fortnight before serious competition for the 60 Contenders gathered started, I highlighted local sailor Matt Mulder as the ‘man to beat’ in a breeze. On top of quality boat handling, Matt has added straight line speed and this, when added to his extensive local knowledge of the Moreton Bay race area, has given him a significant advantage over his rivals.
It was an advantage that Matt exploited to the full, taking win in the first three races, sailed in his favourite brisk conditions. Local knowledge were to play a big part in these early victories, as did the odd slice of good luck, as when two of the other hot favourites, Simon Mussell and Andrea Bonezzi, squeezed Matt out on the start line, then inexplicably left him room to tack away into clear air and an unimpeded lane out onto the paying side of the beat. With the buffer of three comfortable wins, even when the wind went lighter Matt was able to record the 4th place that gave him the Australian Championships for the 3rd time.
To the victor the spoils: Matt Mulder celebrates with Catherine and Carrie getting attention from the new Champion. One wonders what he will do if he should go on to win the Worlds!!
Behind him Jono Neate from Victoria looked in good form and if the breeze continues the challenge from the UK’s Simon Mussell or Italy’s 7 time World Championship could still derail the efforts to get a local winner here at the third time of asking ( 1974 was won by Dave Pitman, 1988 by Steve Daniel).
With the event won, the evening of the prize giving quickly deteriorated into the night of the Contender cocktail. With binge drinking an issue here in Australia (as it is at home) the sailing authorities here are keen to break the link between sport and alcohol consumption. Sadly this wonderful idea came badly unstuck as a viscous green fluid was passed around and soon people were passing out.
Dearne Mulder may be a proud wife, but a whole jug to yourself is just the sort of behaviour that is worrying the sailing authorities. Grant Robinson meanwhle is waiting to have the rules of Strip Poker explained to him, having missed Lesson 1 (with Italian Sub-titles) on New Years Eve. Shortly after this was taking, a number of well known personalities from within the fleet were putting the teachings into practice ahead of a cooling midnight dip!
The more unruly element of the fleet ended up out on the yacht belonging to ‘Crazy’ (John Mclean, another local) where some intelligent conversation about Contender rigs was interrupted by the commencement of skinny dip diving from the bow of the yacht. Concern that a ‘Great White’ had been seen in the marina turned out to be none other than new Australian Contender Association Brett Holly (at least he was doing the crawl, back stroke would have been just too much detail to report on).
The following day there were a number of less than cheerful souls seeking somewhere for a daytime nap to aid recovery from the night before. Most of the Brits wisely headed off to Brisbane Zoo, but the wildlife they saw there would have been tame in comparison to that seen out on the rigging lawn where Australia took on the ‘Rest of the World’ at cricket. As most of the mainland Europeans have yet to discover the joys of this game, some local talent had to be drafted in with the Event Manager, Suellen, qualifying on account that her father hails from the Isle of Wight. Showing a clear eye for the ball (well, that is the only description I can make as from my viewpoint behind the stumps, any other comment would get me chopped off at the knees) Suellen took the attack to the Australian bowlers with some gusto….. before a ‘6 and out’ from your scribe, with the ball lost amongst the sheds, ended the game.
Well really! 'Pom for a day' Suellen Hurling shows her contempt for the Australian Board of Selectors for not picking her for the 3rd Test against Pakistan!
All this fun now gets put to the back burner as the World Championships kick off with the first start at 2pm. The forecast here was for thundery showers and 8kts - but it is clearly blowing much harder that, have the local wind gods again decided to help the Australian Team by delivering up the best of conditions.
The Ruler meets the Man with the Rule!!
Suellen Hurling deep in intellectual conversation with Event Measurement guru Gregg "buy me a coffee and I'll measure your sail" Barrington. What could they be discussing?
The wind is just about the only good bit so far of the weather, the sun has still to make an appearance in 2010 and though we have better conditions than those currently experienced in Europe, if there isn’t some sun soon, people will be returning to work paler than when they left!!
David Henshall
Bearfacemedia/ Brisbane