Jamie Jochheim Crowned Inaugural Queensland DF95 Champion


Oct 15, 2019

Saturday, the 5th October and Sunday the 6th October 2019, the days set aside for the inaugural Queensland DF 95 State Championships hosted by the Townsville RC Yachting club in sunny North Queensland.

\images\WinnersAs the entrants arrived from across Queensland and NSW, they were welcomed to a beautiful balmy sunny day with a nice breeze for the East, which would allow for some of the best racing of radio sailing yachts to be seen.

We ended up with 15 nominations after 3 late withdrawals from the Whitsunday club due to sickness and family issues, but we had 2 entries from the Moreton Club (SE Qld), 1 from NSW, 2 from Whitsunday, 4 from Mackay, 6 from Townsville. Thank you to all for travelling so far to make this a successful event.

it wasn’t long before our visiting PRO, Peter (Straw) Morris had the racing underway after an excellent briefing session. From the outset, it became apparent that the DragonFlite 95 Class was going to live up to it’s reputation of being a lively easy sailed radio sailing yacht as the competition was so close.

The breeze started to move from the East to the North, which bought in some interference from some large trees near the sailing area and this caused a few problems with picking the wind shifts and at times of where the breeze was. Jamie (850) , Geoff (195), Col (78), Cheyne (81) and Leon (86) made the most of the early races to stamp their authority on the racing with some good consistent sailing, always making sure to try and finish in the top 5. As it was a single fleet, the PRO made sure that we sailed 5 races and then had a 10-minute break, so that all skippers could rehydrate, tune up and reset for the next round of races.

By 3:30 pm, we had completed 14 races, so a halt was called to the Championship racing and we started a new concept of handicap racing. Basically, we split the fleet into 2 based on the positions after 14 races and 2 drops, with the lower placed 7 skippers racing off for a Trophy and prize. The higher placed skippers were allocated as mentors to these 7 skippers to assist them in tuning and providing on water training during the race so that they would improve. Each skipper was allocated a start handicap based on their position with the winner getting 30 seconds, 2nd 20 seconds, 3rd 10 seconds, added to their time after each race, and 4 races were planned for the Saturday Afternoon and 4 races for Sunday Morning.

Was it a success? It sure was and was a real hit with everyone with lots of laughs, serious talking, boat tuning, muted race tactics, it had it all and every one of these skippers improved their sailing skills. The racing was so close that only a handful of points separated the 7 skippers.

On the social scene, we attended a sit-down dinner at the onsite Restaurant, one of the best in Townsville and we had a great time, sharing stories and tall tales over a few beers and a grand dinner.

\images\Sailors_1Sunday, the weather was the same, with the wind dying down a fraction, and so we kicked off with the final 4 races for the fun filled handicap series, and in the end Ross (840) took the honors from his son Dean (13) by 1 point, with Rob (806) a close third. Now it was time to start the serious racing again, with Jamie (850) leading Geoff (195) by a couple of points, followed by Col (78), Leon (86), Garry (127) and Cheyne (81), all within striking distance. Everyone witnessed some great tactical sailing between the top 2, as they jostled for supremacy, covering each other, taking risks on wind shifts and they always seemed to get out of poor positions and claw their way back, but in the end, it was Jamie’s (850) consistent sailing that gave him the trophy.

After 27 races, it was time to call it quits and pack up and head home.

The final results show Jamie Jochheim (850) as a clear winner on 46 Points, followed by Geoff Morris (195) on 54.2 points, with Col Cameron (78) a credible 3rd with 87 points.

Leon Thomas (86) held onto 4th place, not bad considering he had hurt his back on Saturday morning assisting the pickup boat, and sailing his DF 95 for the 2nd time, Garry Russell (127) 127 points held off Cheyne Timmermans (81) 129 points. Rob Black (806) started to improve with each race and finished with 154 points, while Ray Part (859) sailing a borrowed boat off Rob, finished with 164 points.

Jason Sten (21) sailing in his first regatta tied with Dean Anderson (13) on 167 points with Jason winning on countback. Ross Anderson (840) finished with 201 points and Roy Tungate (815) finished with 228points, then we had the New South Welshman and executive of the Australian DF Radio Sailing Association, Paul Martin (67) finishing with 244 points, but to be fair, he did miss at least 7 races due to a late flight in on Saturday. Finally Warren Maxwell (19) 301 points and Charlie Krebs (68) 327, rounded out the final places but both showed huge improvement in their sailing as it was there first major regatta and they are new to the sport of DF95 Radio sailing, so they did well just to turn up and have ago, Congratulations fella’s!

\images\Boats_1Some of the highlights of the weekend, were watching Col Cameron on a number of times having a clear undefeatable position heading for a sure win, only to watch in frustration as his yacht became becalmed on the final leg, and all the other yachts passing him on either side, obviously enjoying Col’s suffering. Many calls of, “don’t follow Col, or watch out for wait awhile Camo!”. It was pleasing to see a lot of skippers helping with tuning, with the ever-popular measuring stick coming out to check mast rake etc.

The level of sportsmanship was outstanding with all penalties being done without argument, no official protests, one redress request, and lots of respect shown to everyone, just what a successful regatta requires. Of note, our guard dog, Rusty from Brisbane, made the site very safe, as he kept all crocodiles, snakes etc. away for the weekend, thank you Rusty.

A big thank you to Peter Morris for doing an excellent job as PRO, ably supported by the Townsville RC Yachting Volunteers (Bob, Ian, John, Steve and Ray), without you, we would not have had such a great regatta. Thanks also to Carolyn, who made the weekend by scoring on the laptop, and is now interested in joining the DF95 Clan, plus a thank you to Jason and his supply of shade tents and cold drinking facilities courtesy of his ADF Brigade.

Next year the Qld DF95 Titles will be in the South East Corner of Queensland at a time and place to be announced shortly.

Results

Click here for detailed results
PosName/ClubSail No.NettTotal
1JOCHHEIM, Jamie
WHITSUNDAY MODEL BOAT CLUB
AUS 85047.075.0
2MORRIS, Geoffrey
MORTON RADIO YACHTS
AUS 19554.287.2
3CAMERON, Col
TOWNSVILLE
AUS 7887.0131.0
4THOMAS, Leon
TOWNSVILLE
AUS 86112.0156.0
5RUSSELL, Gary
MACKAY
AUS 127127.0171.0
6TIMMERMANS, Cheyne
WHITSUNDAY MODEL BOAT CLUB
AUS 81129.0169.0
7BLACK, Rob
MACKAY
AUS 806154.0211.0
8PART, Ray
TOWNSVILLE
AUS 859164.0216.0
9STEN, Jason
TOWNSVILLE
AUS 21167.0218.0
10ANDERSON, Dean
MACKAY
AUS 13167.0216.0
11ANDERSON, Ross
MACKAY
AUS 840200.0257.0
12TUNGATE, Roy
MACKAY
AUS 815228.0282.0
13MARTIN, Paul
WHITSUNDAY
AUS 67243.0307.0
14MAXWELL, Warren
TOWNSVILLE
AUS 19301.0363.0
15KREBS, Charlie
TOWNSVILLE
AUS 68327.0390.0

Category: Queensland
Posted by: ARYA Publicity