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Again due to the outstanding support from the DF community the Race Organisers had to split the fleet using HMS again to accommodate the numbers attending the event.  Once heats 1B and 1A were complete it was clear from the outset that the key players from the day before were all putting their chips on the table and intending to make a tight show in the racing.

With the change of yacht it was clear that others were intent to show that they wanted to be in the fight. After the first 3 races it was clear that every heat win was going to be hard to get. It was going to be a very tactical battle throughout the fleets on the water and the scorers abacus! 7 skippers would ultimately earn converted heat wins.

The Winds followed a similar trend  to the day before by clocking left, ultimately settling on a west-south-west 5 to 10 knots and building.  Graham Roberts (NZ) started Strongly early with a couple of bullets, Simon How (SA) opened the account with a win as well.  Tony White (SA) quitely achieved some really high finishes with a couple of seconds to his account! John Wyatt reprised his strong results the day before also achieving a heat win!

By Race 4 it was clear that it was a six way fight for the top spot with Graham Roberts (NZ), Tony White (SA), John Wyatt (NSW), Father & Son - Simon and James How (SA) and Phil Burgess (NSW) The temperature was clearly rising and the competition was hotting up.  The breeze was freshening.  Most of A fleet kept on with their A+ rigs not wanting to fall into a hole, Some B fleet skippers decided that A Rigs were a better plan to consolidate their respective positions!

After lunch Simon caught weed, pushing him back to B fleet, that hampered his progress for a couple of races, Tony and John managed to get heat wins pushing home their respective charges towards Graham Roberts (who was building a narrow points margin over the fleet)  James How was always lurking just out of the 5 at this point capitalising on his dads poor fortune!

In the last few Races Graham, Tony and John  shadowed each other sailing very conservatively trying to keep ahead of the wildly swinging breeze while keeping all important points gaps between them.  At this point James How capitalized with a bullet trying to become a feature in the overall equation.  heading into 9A heat: Graham Roberts had the barest points advantage over Tony the breeze was becoming unstable and a game of snakes and ladders started - gains and losses were noted throughout the heat.  John and James Romped it home and crossed their fingers to see how the scores fell! Graham and Tony were out the back door wondering if they had done enough!

After the scores were Tallied:

1st Graham Roberts  (NZ) by 4 points (16 Points)
2nd Tony White (SA) (20 Points)
3rd John Wyatt (NSW) (22 Points)
4th James How (SA) (25 Points) 

Ruth Williams received an ADFRSA Hat for her efforts in the fleet, mixing it up with fellas!

Steve Knights has only owned a Dragon Force 65 for less than two months, showing huge potential by having several good results in A fleet.  For that outstanding effort he received an ADFRSA LI-Fe Battery (Steve did indicate that he loves the sport so much that he's thinking the battery is destined for a DF95).

Big thanks to all competitors who participated in this DF ranking event, We also pay a huge acknowledgement to our interstate competitors who supported our event.  And even bigger shoutout to Graham Roberts who flew over the Tasman to come sail with us as well! 

Big Thankyou to Johan Bergkvist (SARYC / MLMYC) as Race Officer and the Mawson Lakes Race/Club Committee for making this event an outstanding success and giving a firm commitment to supporting a 2-day 2023 DF65 State Championship!