Six F18s all in a row. Image copyright Andrea Francolini/Audi.
by Vanessa Dudley
A brand new boat finished its first day of racing as the overall leader of the Club Marine Formula 18 Australian Championship at Audi Victoria Week today.
BO, a Capricorn C2 skippered by Steven Brewin and crewed by Jack Benson, finished third in the first race in spite of being late for the start, and then decisively won the next two races to finish the day on 4.6 points. Conditions were testing with the 15-20 knot southerly wind gusting higher at times and a short but choppy seaway.
Second overall after three races is the Hobie Tiger Scott Lovig Holden, sailed by Robbie Lovig and Lachlan Gibson, with a 1-2-4 scorecard for 6.8pts, followed on 7pts by Scrunch or Fold, a Capricorn F18 sailed by Matt Homan and Lucas McDonald.
The leading boat is one of two new C2s which arrived in Australia only four days before the start of this series being hosted by the Royal Geelong Yacht Club.
The F18 catamaran class permits innovation in design and technology within overall parameters, and the C2 is a new development of the established Capricorn design produced by Victorian company AHPC, one of the world leaders in the high octane racing class, and launched at the Paris Boat Show in December. Company head, Greg Goodall, is racing the second C2 at these nationals with his son Brett.
“The new boat has got more volume in the front of the hulls than the Capricorn, it didn’t nosedive downwind today and it feels pretty quick,” said Steve Brewin, a Sydney sailmaker who is the current national champion and a top ranked international competitor and former world champ in the single-handed A-Class catamaran.
Brewin’s crew, Jack Benson, is an A-Class sailor from Darwin, and this is the first time the two have sailed together as a crew. “We had a communication error on our last gybe in the first race that maybe cost us second place, just because we’ve never sailed together before,” Brewin said.
“But that will improve and we’re planning to do the F18 worlds together, because they are straight after this year’s A Class worlds in France.”
Brewin and Benson missed the first start today by about 40 seconds because they were testing some of the new systems on the C2. “Because the boat’s only just arrived in the country they have been thrown together in a hurry for this series and they need a few tune-ups,” Brewin said. That’s probably what cost Greg and Brett Goodall a better placing today.
“Robbie {Lovig] and Lachlan [Gibson] sailed well, they had the best teamwork and boat handling today,” Brewin said.
The series continues tomorrow with four races scheduled on Corio Bay from midday.
Audi Victoria Week
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