Mark Hansen’s ITINERANT sailing with second place finisher SEAHAWK.
Mark Hansen, won the Western Australian Farr 9.2 State Championship with a combination of old and new sails as well as strong yet conservative tactics. Mark wrote about the regatta and noting, “A number of other boats had been spending up big on sail wardrobes and were expecting to do well. We were pretty happy with the sails we had with a reasonably new (X-Drive) No.1 genoa, and a fully battened Tape-Drive main that was a couple of seasons old, but still in great shape. We also had a brand new kite that we had been saving up for the occasion. Therefore our preparations went into the boat itself, and having the boat cleaned and new antifoul applied earlier in the week, the hull was going to be as fast as it could be.
“We made a very conscious and concerted effort to make sure that we had clear air and speed at each start so that we could get in control of where we wanted to be. This Farr fleet is very competitive and makes for close racing. They don’t want to give an inch! We used that to our advantage even if it meant not being at the absolute favoured end of the line, knowing that we could punch out in front and get to the side of the course we wanted. That strategy proved very successful in all six races. The wind direction does vary quite a bit at Rockingham, so the rest of each race still was a challenge. Our scorecard was 4, 1, 3, 6, 1, 2, with a number of those being just pipped on the line.
“The crew worked superbly during the regatta, and I am grateful to them, and the good ship ITINERANT. Winners were certainly grinners at the prize night when we accepted our award under the UK Sailmakers banner! Our thanks to Geoff Bishop and UK Sailmakers Fremantle.”
The crew of ITINERANT hauling away the trophies at the Farr 9.2 WA State Championship.
