CLARE COSTANZO WINS IN TASMANIA
REPORT BY 1ST PLACED SKIPPER , CLARE COSTANZO .
After narrowly missing out on the title last year in the final race , it made this year ’ s win that much more rewarding . Lauren Crossman , Emma May and I sailed together at the Australian Women ’ s Match Racing Nationals hosted by RPAYC in 2015 . We decided to team up again this year to give it our best shot at victory , with my younger sister Juliet Costanzo joining us on bow .
The three-day regatta started in light breezes , slowly increasing as the day went on . Our first race of the regatta was probably the most eventful and stressful . We were half way through the pre start against Kirsten Norris to realize our kite halyard was , in fact , stuck at the top of the mast . We tried to retrieve it during the pre-start but no one was quite able to climb up the mast . We started the race in front after a good pre-start and spent the entire upwind trying to think of solutions . It was Emma May ’ s offshore bow experience , which got her thinking outside the square . She suggested we drop the jib and hoist the spinnaker on the jib halyard . We managed to pull this off and win our first race of the regatta .
The second day was extremely light and shifty . The race committee was only able to fit in a few races before we went ashore for the day . The race they cancelled before returning ashore was in fact the grudge match of RPAYC vs RPAYC where we were in fact both drifting backwards in the pre-start with the strong tide of the Derwent River .
On the third day the race committee told us we should be careful what we wish for . We all woke up to a shifty 20 + knots to finish the round robin and complete finals . The race committee finished the first round robin quickly and then we went into semi-finals . We finished the double round robin in 1st place with 12 wins and therefore raced against 4th place , Sam Bailey from RYCT . This left Sarah Parker RPAYC 2nd place to race against Caitlin Tames CYCA 3rd place . The semis were raced in shifty and puffy conditions with the wind coming directly off the land in short sharp bursts . We won our two races against Bailey , which gave us a spot in the finals .
After we finished our races , we were watching Sarah Parker approaching the finish line about to win her second semi-final when the team was hit by a huge gust and went into a Chinese gybe . The crew was unable to drop the kite due to a knot in the halyard . Sarah fell out of the boat during the incident and managed to hold onto the back until they crossed the finish line , however , Caitlin Tames managed to come from behind and win the race . Caitlin then went on to win the next race , giving two wins to Tames from the CYCA . It was disappointing to not get to race against our Club mates in the finals ,
however , they gave it their all in the petite finals to come away with 3rd .
We then went on to race Caitlin Tames from the CYCA in the finals . Due to time limits it was first team to get two wins . We went into finals determined and fired up to leave everything on the racecourse . We ended up coming away with the win 2-0 .
We would like to thank the RPAYC for their support not only for the regatta but throughout the past few years in Youth Development , the RYCT and race committee for hosting the event , Sarah Parker for some strong competition and Super Coaches Malcolm Parker ( who came down to Tasmania to support us ) and Tom Spithill .
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
YACHTSMAN 69