Deb's Nationals report, day 2

Today was all slalom racing. Course races were scheduled for the afternoon, but it took all day to get through the men’s and women’s heats and men’s finals: this was the first time we’re been able to have the traditional repercharge in several years, thanks to the great support from SSBC. I had the opportunity to get out on the start boat, so there are some great photos you can check out at Picasa when I get the bandwidth to upload them. There was also a professional photographer on the boat, whose pics will be much better than mine and can be viewed at White Caps Photography. She kindly donated her time, so please support her by purchasing a photo if you like it. 


My amateur photos can be seen here

Lots of pumping in the men's heats

As usual there were some interesting races where people who shall remain nameless (except for Greg Johns) jumped the start by 30 seconds, finished across the start line, hit each other, fell in, swore a lot and nearly collapsed from exhaustion. Martin Stone was a standout performer, winning the lightweights from Robbie Treharne and Mike Lancey, and leading overall on points. Dennis Winstanley narrowly took the mediumweights from Chris Thompson, in spite of giving up the last race on a finish-line error [Chris insists that he had the race anyway], ahead of young Matt Stenta in a bravura performance (it seems that no-one knew this kid was a mediumweight, so he sneaked under the radar!). In the heavies, Stewie Gilbert proved that his new diet is a great success by finishing comfortably ahead of Greg Johns and Steve Barton. Sheena McKinnon was another standout performer, winning every race in the women’s slalom, though Annalise Gilbert gave her a good run for her money, finishing second, ahead of Nina Long (who was also very competitive, taking two races from Annalise). 

Annalise gives Sheena a run for her money

Wind conditions were testing for both competitors and the race committee, with the wind dropping and shifting 180 degrees halfway through the heats. Still the afternoon finished on a high note with a lovely 12-to-15-knot breeze providing exciting racing in the finals. 

Tight mark roundings in the men's finals

It was particularly great to see all the kids out there, rafting up in between heats and encouraging each other. Even the tiny ones like Will Divola, Daniel Heyworth and Demi Gilbert were really keen to get out there and race. As we all know, it only takes a heartbeat for these little guys to turn into grown-up windsurfers who will beat us around the course - as their older siblings are already showing us. This is the future of windsurfing, and I hope the kids on the beach will be nagging their parents to buy or lend them boards so they can compete in the next nationals. 

The girls raft up

Results: Men's slalom

Place	Name		Heavy	Medium	Light
1	Martin Stone				1
2	Rob Treharne				2
3	Dennis Winstanley			1
4	Michael Lancey				3
5	Stuart Gilbert		1
6	Christopher Thompson			2
7	Samuel Treharne				4
8	Jason Morris				5
9	Mark Lloyd				6
10	Matthew Stenta			3
11	Matthew Ivshenko				7
12	Daniel Bainbridge			4
12	Greg Johns		2
12	Roger Crawford			5
12	Stephen Barton		3
12	Warren Holder		4
17	Paul Grimshaw		5
17	Stephen Walsh				8
19	Robert Stenta		6
19	Timothy Forster			6
21	Christopher Stenta				9
22	Gerald Nailon		7
22	Andrew Divola			7
22	Paul Ivshenko			8
24	Steve Newman				10
24	Jeremy Trotman				11
27	Jim Kariotis			9
27	Jorn Krohnke		8
29	Jack Lloyd				12
29	Ashely Heyworth				13
31	Quentin Grimshaw		9
31	Angus Williams				14
35	Darren Garner				15
35	Owen Long				16
35	Will Divola				17

Results: Women's slalom

			R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Total
1	Sheena McKinnon	600	1	1	1	1	1	5
2	Annalise Gilbert	111	3	2	3	2	2	12
3	Nina Long	416	2	3	2	3	3	13
4	Tonia Grimshaw	303	4	4	4	6	6	24
5	Lucy Heyworth	11	6	5	5	5	4	25
6	Kerry Bergman	72	5	6	6	4	5	26

Victory wave!

A bit of cooling off in between races