Keith Swinton and his Black Swan Racing Team, cruise to victory over New Zealand's Matt Steven. Image copyright John Roberson.
by John Roberson
Keith Swinton and his Black Swan Racing team, representing the South of Perth Yacht Club, continued to dominate the Warren Jones International Youth Regatta on the Swan River’s Matilda Bay, chalking up five more wins to maintain a two point advantage at the top of the leaderboard.
A strong Kiwi challenge from Auckland’s Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron is his closest competition, with Phil Robertson also scoring five wins for a 10 win, 2 loss scoreline at the end of the second day.
Sharing third place with 9 wins and 3 losses each, are Royal Perth Yacht Club skipper Robert Gibbs and another Auckland team led by Reuben Corbett.
The ten teams had a frustrating morning, with very light and fickle winds turning some races into a lottery, and it was in those conditions that Keith Swinton suffered his only loss of the series, going down to Phil Robertson by a massive 2 minute, 16 second margin.
Talking about his this loss, Swinton was philosophical saying, “it was in that really light stuff in the morning, we thought we were fairly competitive, but we got three penalties in the match.”
He agreed that in the light conditions there are often times when there is no controlling the situation, and the outcome is in the lap of the gods, however he held on for some close wins despite the unpredictable conditions.
By the afternoon a healthy seabreeze kicked in, and the established pecking order was restored, with most matches going to form.
Phil Robertson has contested this event once before, finishing fifth in ’08, and he feels comfortable in the 36 foot boats, which are larger than are used in most youth regattas.
Still performing above expectation is Reuben Corbett, who has only contested two match racing events outside New Zealand, one being the Bavaria Yachts series in Sydney, in which he finished second.
He was also second in the World University Match Racing Championships, held in Gdansk, Poland, in July last year.
The regatta continues until the grand final on Friday afternoon.
Nicky Souter leads Stuart Pollard at the windward mark. Image copyright John Roberson.
LEADERBOARD:
1 Keith Swinton AUS (SoPYC) Win 12 Loss 1
2 Phil Robertson NZL (RNZYS) 10-2
3= Robert Gibbs AUS (RPYC) 9-3
3= Reuben Corbett NZL (RNZYS) 9-3
5 Evan Walker AUS (CYCA) 8-4 (7.5 pts)*
6 Stuart Pollard AUS (RSYS) 6-8
7 Peter Nicholas AUS (RFBYC) 4-9
8 Brett Sharpe AUS (RFBYC) 3-11
9= Matt Steven NZL (RPNYC) 2-12
9= Nicky Souter AUS (RPAYC) 2-12
Evan Walker received a 0.5 pt penalty for illegal hiking
Royal Perth Yacht Club
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