On Sunday the 12th of May, seven boys met in the foggy pre-dawn outside Jolimont Centre where a bus stood waiting to take them to Sydney for the Finals Series of the NSW Teams Racing Championships. Returning as one of the top 8 teams from NSW and ACT, the boys were hoping to continue their success in the NSW Championships, which had been called short due to light wind conditions, leading to the need for this one-day event. The competition for the day consisted of teams from schools in Sydney such as Scots, Cranbrook, Riverview and Sydney High.
Arriving at Sydney close to 3 hours later, it was discovered that due to a lack of umpires for the event, the race committee had changed the course from the usual N shape to an unconventional box shape. This was not a course that the teams usually practiced or raced on and meant that a number of interesting new tactics for the bottom were devised in place of now useless ones. Initially the boys from Canberra Grammar got off to a good start, securing their first race victory against Cranbrook on the line. The unorthodox course proved to be a large up setter for teams as the unfamiliarity saw many leads in the races change hands. Unfortunately the extremely early start to the day proved to be the greatest competition out on the water for the boys and it took its toll as the boys lost each consecutive race on the day by an increasing margin.
Overall the boys finished 7th in the NSW Teams Racing Championships, a large improvement over the 13th that they had received last year. Thanks to Sanne, who had been willing to support the team along with Mr. Maltby and some very helpful parent support.
By Dillon McGrath
Arriving at Sydney close to 3 hours later, it was discovered that due to a lack of umpires for the event, the race committee had changed the course from the usual N shape to an unconventional box shape. This was not a course that the teams usually practiced or raced on and meant that a number of interesting new tactics for the bottom were devised in place of now useless ones. Initially the boys from Canberra Grammar got off to a good start, securing their first race victory against Cranbrook on the line. The unorthodox course proved to be a large up setter for teams as the unfamiliarity saw many leads in the races change hands. Unfortunately the extremely early start to the day proved to be the greatest competition out on the water for the boys and it took its toll as the boys lost each consecutive race on the day by an increasing margin.
Overall the boys finished 7th in the NSW Teams Racing Championships, a large improvement over the 13th that they had received last year. Thanks to Sanne, who had been willing to support the team along with Mr. Maltby and some very helpful parent support.
By Dillon McGrath