Tasmanian State Titles- Craftsman Homes Victory

Craftsman Homes State Title Victory

The final round of the state B14 titles was all resting on the shoulders of both dominating sailors that are currently racing in the state Adrian Beswick and Chris Wells with their respective gun crews Josh Phillips and Dianne Maynard. The overall winner of the final round of the state titles would win the overall crown for the season. Racing went underway in a consistent but shifty NE wind of 10 knots and saw the B14 fleet holding reasonable speed throughout the entire race 1. The first race was very close overall and came down to the final lap where the club local Adrian Beswick and his trusty Crew Josh Phillips sailing Craftsman Homes snuck back through to take the win from Wells and Maynard on Epic and Steve Miller with crew Lauren Keil on Phantom (Aus 367). Race 2 started in a dying breeze and saw an excellent port tack start by Wells and Maynard. Miller (Aus 367) and Wells (AUS 359) rounded the top mark together on the first lap closely followed by Adrian Beswick (AUS 369). Beswick again caught up during the first lap to take the lead at the bottom mark and tried to cover the other boats to protect it. Again the other two boats snuck back through causing Beswick to rethink his upwind tactics. On the final downwind Beswick and Phillips managed to fight off the competitive nature of their fellow sailors Miller and Keil to take the win by three seconds and Chris wells another 20 odd seconds behind. The final Race was set to be a thriller Wells and Maynard needed to win and Beswick and Phillips to get 4^th or worse in the race to be able to win the racing for the day. With the race shortened to one lap in the constantly dying breeze the fleet got underway. Beswick and Phillips Nailed the last start Port tacking the entire fleet with speed. Wells and Maynard went into an all or nothing dip and hit the far left hand side of the course, while Beswick and Phillips covered the fleet to secure a top 3 finish. The move by Wells and Maynard paid off as he rounded 3 boat lengths ahead of the main fleet with Beswick and Phillips Rounding in 2^nd and Tim and Alex Grant (AUS 250 B Alert) Rounding in 3^rd. On the final downwind Beswick and Phillips went wide out again to get the advantage of the tide pulling the fleet towards the finish line. They managed to get in front of Wells and Maynard down the last gybe and take the win again by only three seconds. With three Bullets for the day Beswick and Phillips were over the moon with their performance. The local homegrown Leven Boy had finally after six years of competing in the B14 class took out the state titles that have been dominated by local coaster Nick Richardson for 5 out of the events 6-year history. The 2007/2008-season saw Wells and Maynard make their way into second place for the first time also and they have shown great improvement over the past season. In the overall State handicap results Launceston boys David Cromarty and Cameron Gibson took out the win with Steve Miller and Lauren Keil from Midway Point coming second and Steve Mitchell and Amy Van Galen also from Midway Point coming in a close third.