The Tamar Cove CST Composites B14 World Championships are starting on 2 January. Following the lead up regatta, crews will have a better idea where they will place in the field and will be looking to capitalise on the local conditions which they have learnt across the two days racing had thus far.
Tassie favourites, Hunt and Price following their second at the Australian Championships mixing it up with the competing British crews have proven they are a threat to snag the world title. Champion Crew Beswick is teaming up with Hong Kong Skipper Martin Mok to representing the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club its unknown where they will place into the world championships. Mok and Beswick between them have about 6 hours sailing time up their sleeve together and haven’t competed against a number of the top level combinations.
With moderate to strong sea breezes forecast throughout the regatta it’s going to be a bit different without the Richardson/Beswick combination as the only heavy weights remaining are the Father Son Combination of Ian and David Cunningham sailing AUS373 Bonework from McCrae Yacht Club and Local sailors, Chris Wells and Peter Girling sailing AUS 359 Epic from Deviot Sailing Club. Mok and Beswick are sailing 30kgs lighter at 145kg in the main event less than Rocketships previous combination which clocked in at the top of the range at 175kg. This will put them back into a similar range to second and third place getters Hunt/Price and Bancroft/Chapman leading into the first day of racing tomorrow.
The British combination of Nick Craig and Toby Lewis sailing Harken/Sandline will be looking forward to varied breezes, having proved their ability to mix it at the varying wind speeds across the open championships. The other top combination from Britain is Mark Barnes and local crew, Lauren Keil sailing Team Gul/North Sails have shown their skills in the lighter breezes but are yet to prove they can match the pace in the stronger breezes. Now the pair have a few days of sailing under their belts, this should help with their placings leading into the World Championships.
Filming by Tim Harris Video begins tomorrow morning thanks to all the regatta sponsors, but in particular to the West Tamar Council who have backed filming with a small project grant for the World Championships. daily filming of each race will be uploaded nightly following racing to the class AusB14TV youtube channel.
Tomorrow's race day sponsor is Tasports, Mok and Beswick will be wearing the Suenami Leaders Jersey leading into the championship and the crews union address will follow after racing on the club balcony.
Spectators are encouraged to check out racing from the club, inspection lead wharf or on their own vessels noting to keep a safe distance from competitors and racing lines. See you soon.