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The Highlight of the
year for the South Pacific region was the 2003 World Championship held at
Sandringham Club in Melbourne. The fleet of fifty-five boats from eleven
countries was the best for an Australian Worlds. The Australasian
contribution was twenty-six boats, with twenty locals and six New
Zealanders. The organisers were thrilled to have twenty-seven overseas
boats from so many countries particularly Spain and Switzerland who having
not been attendees in recent years. The performance of the boats from the
region was very credible and suggests our fleets are up to pace with
Europeans. Norman Rydge and Richard Scarr pushed the more experienced
Hungarians and there were five Australasian placings in the top twelve.
The series was well run without incident and the only disappointment was
the lack of the strong winds that Port Phillip Bay is renowned for.
The New Zealand group are to lobby for the 2006
World Championship and plan to hold an Interdominion Championship during
the prior season. If successful this would provide Australian crews with a
strong incentive to attend and a further boost to sailing in the region.
The NZ National Championships were held in
Wellington in February 2004 with eight starters. The winners for the
second year were Andrew McCkee and Matt Bismark. There were two new youth
teams and a new junior crew in the fleet, which suggests a resurgence of
interest in FD sailing in NZ after a slump in recent years. One new boat
was built in NZ this year.
In Australia the class has been strengthened by the
Worlds. The strongest fleet is now in Sydney. There have been about five
boats sailing regularly at least once a month from Neutral Bay on Sydney
Harbour. The next National Championship will be held in Canberra in
January where there are two boats sailing. A ten race series is planned
from December 31st to Jan 5th.
In South Australia there has been a downturn, with
only four boats left in the state and only two sailing occasionally. Age
and the lack of competition have taken toll on the once strong fleet. John
Jenkins and Peter Woolman have defected to the 505 class which in
undergoing resurgence here.
In Victoria the six boats are scattered widely and
only come together for regatta events. The only regular sailing is on Lake
Cairn Curren when there is enough water in it. With fewer boats taking
part in regular club racing it maybe that FD sailors in Australia may
participate together more in regatta events such as the Ham Cup or State
Championship events run over long weekends such as occurs in Europe for
most FD sailors. The large distances between venues are however a problem.
Unfortunately there have been no new boats built in
Australia this year. The excellent SA owned moulds are with Tony Barrett,
an experienced boat builder, who will build an excellent boat, but still
awaits his first order.
They new class rules are welcome and Peter
Hinrichsen and Cle Yeltes are to be congratulated and thanked for this
valuable contribution to the class.
The resolution of the carbon fibre mast issue is
also welcomed in this region and we await the final formulation of the
relevant class rules. The work of Peter Hinrichsen has again been
monumental and the proposal could never have progressed this far without
his massive input.
The debates about the carbon fibre mast, the new
class rules, the new logo and other issues have been very successfully
carried on through the Internet and I have been very pleased to have
participated. I might not have contributed much, but it was good to have
been kept informed and I hope for the sake of distant commodores the
practice continues. There have been suggestions particularly from Cle of
refinement of the process of decision making which we hope may be resolved
at the coming IFDCO Committee meeting.
Bruce Higgins, IFDCO
Commodore, South Pacific Region.
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