Protest pending on yachting trial

Press, 4 December 1978, Page 21

Protest pending on yachting trial

By

JOHN COFFEY

Whether Peter Milliken! and Brent Cowan represent; Canterbury in the nationals l Javelin class Sanders Cup! series later this season will depend on the decision ofj the Canterbury Yachting Associations protest committee this evening. Milliken and Cowan more than overcame the points deficit they had conceded to John Fisher and Derek I Brandt the previous weekend when they gained first , and second placings in the last two trials at Lyttelton on Saturday. However, Fisher and ! Brandt had lodged a protest 1 against the race committee’s ? siting of the finishing line 1 for the fifth heat on Satur-’ 1 day morning. It was not; possible to assemble suf- > ficient members of the C.Y.A. protest committee at the time and the meeting; has been convened for this h evening. If Fisher and Brandt have? their argument upheld, the! heat would have to be sailed 1 again, for Milliken and 1 Cowan held an over-all points advantage of only 2.7, at the end of a keenly-con-| tested series of six races.? Dave Elder and Ross May ■ were another 2.6 points behind as a result of their success on Saturday afternoon. The leading crews in the other divisions retained their positions. Barry Willcox and Gregor Bo water again achieved top ranking in the J.C. class, Leslie Egnot just ma--: naged to stay ahead of Neil? Fitzgerald to become : Canterbury’s first girl;! Tanner Cup P class repre-li sentative, and Stewart !j Coates had a wide margin to 11 spare over his rival Starling 1 helmsmen. It would be cruel luck if!: Milliken and Cowan were top lose the line honours they gained on Saturday morning.! They dominated proceedings? from the start, being lmin!' lOsec in front of Elder and : May at the top mark, and!

(increasing their authority tot: nearly 3min 30sec by the; fend of the third windward; leg. Elder and May and Peter. Bradley and John Boraston’ ■ were second and third, res-i pectively, throughout, with 1 Fisher and Brandt making up one place to be fourth, i their most modest return! from three days of competi- 1 tion. The south-westerly breeze died away soon after thei Javelin and J.C. fleets had) been sent on their way in: the afternoon and a new I starting line was set to ac- ! commodate the light easterly conditions. To make matters I more difficult, a heavy mist ■ descended from the ‘southwest and visibility was very! restricted. Not surprisingly, there I were frequent fluctuations ini the order. Elder and May! imade the pace around thei first triangle from Fisher ■and Brandt, Bradley and Boiraston, and Milliken and Cowan. But Milliken and Cowan had their turn in front when they made a wide sweep across the har-? [hour on the third beat, only! for Elder and May to edge! [ahead close to the finish. ! Milliken and Cowan com- [ pleted the series — subject to the protest hearing — with two wins, two seconds, I a third and a discarded fourth, marginally better; than Fisher and Brandt’s! two wins, a second, two thirds and a discounted; :fourth. Had Elder and May; not had severe spinnaker! problems the previous! ; Sunday they would have! ■ been even closer than their ! placings of one win, three ! seconds, a fourth and a fifth [left them. ! In contrast to the closeness of the Javelin trials, [ | Willcox and Bowater settled the J. C. class issue with an I impressive all-the-way victory on Saturday morning, i ■ They later improved from' i third to have their fourth ! win of the series, incurring I

i a mere three penalty points, I |compared with 17.4 points; .of the runners-up, Michael Macdonald and Rob McGregor. I Similarly, Coates was also: ! unbeaten on Saturday to! I leave himself with a loss of | only three points. Simon: Nikoloff continued his se-l [quence of minor placings! |and was a comfortable! ‘ second in the final standings ■ of the Starling trials. It was left to the junior PI i class to provide the most: !tantalising conclusion to the! I six-race contest. After about; 112 hours of sailing, Miss! Egnot nudged Neil Filz.ge-1 , raid from the Tanner Cup i [nomination by 0.3 of al point, with another 3.1 .points back to Neale Buck- 1 ley. Buckley provided a clearer lindication of his potential by (arriving late on the scene to itake the winner’s gun on I Saturday morning. That left Miss Egnot requiring second place points to clinch victory, a goal that she achieved in the afternoon. The dominance of Miss Egnot, Fitzgerald and Buckley was finally relaxed when Colin Rosevear ■ overcame his comparative . lack of experience to push Buckley back to fourth in the final event. Results. — Javelin class — race 5: Marmalade <P. Milliken and B Cowan) 1. Koro (D. Elder and R. Mayi 2. Gnu (P. Bradley and J. Boraston) 3. Race 6: Koro 1, Marmalade ; 2, Joshua (J. Fisher and D. Brandt) 3. Final points (subject to protest): Marmalade,! •11.7, 1: Joshua, 14.4, 2; Koro, 17, 3. J. C. class — race 5: Tijuana (B. Willcox and G. Bowater) 1. Enigma (M. i Macdonald and R. McGre-; gor) 2, Cupid (K. Jamie and P. Clark) 3. Race 6: Tijuana 1. Cupid 2, Enigma 3. Final points: Tijuana, 3,1; Enigma. 17.4, 2; The Crab (P. Penney and 1. Britton) and Frantic (A. Roberts and H. McGregor). 33.7, equal 3. 1 Starling class — race 5:

Scarecrow (S. Coates) 1, Atom (R. Hall) 2, El Viento (S. Nikoloff) 3. Race 6: Scarecrow 1. El Viento 2, No. 364 (L. Bell, Timaru) 3. Final points: Scarecrow, 3, 1; El Viento. 16.7, 2; Pirahna (G. Nikoloff) and Atom. 40.7, equal 3. P class — race 5: Echo (N. Buckley) 1, Barnacle (N. Fitzgerald) 2, Aphrodite (Miss L. Egnot) 3. Race 6: Barnacle 1, Apl’Frodite 2, Mr Pip (C. Rosevear) 3. Final points: Aphrodite, 8.7, 1; Barnacle, 9,2; Echo, 12.1 3.