Cherub Rock
The boys and girls (and mums and dads) of the Australian east coast Cherub fleets went for a sail in fresh conditions last weekend on Lake Macquarie as part of Round Two of the NSW Cherub State Championships. The entries included visitors from Darling Point Sailing Squadron in Queensland and two boats from the emerging Cherub fleet at Queens Lake Sailing Club at Laurieton.
The boats from the local Belmont fleet put the cleaners through their Sydney rivals by taking the majority of the top places over the weekend. Ryan Clifton-Smith and Nigel Blatchford in Enough Rope finished with two wins and a second from the three races. They, and their compatriots Andrew Berryman and Matthew Wright in Ricochet, rocketed up the leader board of the four round series making amends for having been whipped by the Sydney boats in the first round, held in Sydney, in October. Series leader Alison Chapman in Sparky from Lane Cove held on the overall series lead, but only just, after finishing out of the major placings in Round Two.
The highlight of the weekend was Sunday’s Heat 6 sailed in a 20-25+ kt northwesterly that showed off Belmont as one of the best skiff sailing venues in the world. There were lots of thrills and spills and bruised sailors at the end. One of the diminutive Cherubs was clocked at 20.98 kts on one of the full gas reaches despite the lumpy conditions. The race went to Cherub veterans and multiple National Champions Trevor Fay and Rohan Kelly in Wally who gave the rest of the fleet a sailing lesson in the strong conditions.
This shot shows Ray Beeton and Mick Duggan in their Cherub Vendetta getting some air. More shots by Fiona Lunsmann of Sunday’s racing can be found here. Thanks to anarchist Lunsmann.
