2010 Farr 1020 National Championships

Report from Cameron Thorpe, HARD LABOUR
2010 was the 25th Farr 1020 Nationals. With 10 entries, including a crew from Wellington, it looked like there would be some great racing. Favourites included multiple past champion Grant Turnbull returning to the class and skippering Rainbow IV, defending champ Phil Yuill back with his team on Max Headroom, Joe Brownlee’s Shokran with Alan Gywer as tactician hoping to go one better than previous bests of 2nd as well as Steve Barton’s Hard Labour as the class benchmark and keen to avenge their narrow loss in 2009.

The weather forecast was perfect.....

The weather forecast for the weekend was perfect… just as long as you didn’t want to go sailing ! Light and variable ! The Wellington crew was most upset.
Saturday dawned as predicted, very light and shifty. We got the first race away but had to wait a long time for the second race which eventually turned into a drifter. Although scheduled to run 5 races it was decided to call it a day after only 2 races. Results were interesting reading with Hard Labour and Max Headroom back in 5th and 6th overall and Azure the surprise leader with a first and third. There was a little controversy over the finish of race 2 with conflicting results sheets, Hard Labour was given the nod by 1 sec over Shokran in the race for 4th and 5th. Although at the time nobody realised just how important this would turn out to be !
Sunday also started as a beautiful day, however it was also very light but promised to build a little more than the previous day. Shokran took the first gun, their decision to run 5 crew (as opposed to the normal 7) paying dividends. Rainbow IV took second to become joint overall leader with Azure while Hard Labour had a shocker to finish 7th and all but remove themselves from contention. However race 4 saw a change of fortune with Hard Labour making an early dig to the right to take the lead and hold it all the way with Max Headroom taking second. Hard Labour’s resurgence continued in the next race leading away from the start. However Rainbow IV found a shift to the left to get in front but Hard Labour lauched numerous attacks on them down each run. On the final run Hard Labour finally managed to roll Rainbow IV who gybed away. Unfortunately a poor gybe meant they also lost another place to Shokran just before the finish.
Now with 2 races remaining it looked like a race between Rainbow IV and Shokran with Hard Labour only a point behind and Max Headroom not too far away. Rainbow IV took the start and looked strong up the first beat. However while most of the fleet gybed early down the run Penury and Hard Labour carried on in nice pressure before eventually gybing back on a hot angle to pass the fleet and be 1st and 2nd round the bottom mark. Penury held on to take the win ahead of Max Headroom in second. Hard Labour came in third but significantly just ahead of Shokran and Rainbow IV. It would be down to the wire and decided in the last race.
Rainbow IV won the start and was still looking good after the first windward/leeward fighting with Shokran. Hard Labour was deep in the fleet and split off to the right along with Share Delight. As the previous half hour had seen the wind slowly clocking left it could be a bit risky… However if the shift started coming back… Tension was high, boats started coming back from the left looking bow down and in light pressure… but still no shift for Share Delight and Hard Labour to get back from the right. Patience finally paid off and a righthand shift saw Share Delight and Hard Labour 1st and 2nd around the final mark. Share Delight held on to win from Max Headroom who Hard Labour elected to let pass and stay out of trouble. Shokran took 4th to finish the regatta 2nd overall for the third time !
Interestingly 6 different boats won the 7 races. Hard Labour being the only boat to win more than one race, this being enough to secure the championship. Share Delight’s final race win must have helped a lot in gaining 1st overall on handicap ahead of the Wellington crew on Choice Transport who’s light air sailing improved a lot over the regatta.

Report from Cameron Thorpe HARD LABOUR, 29 April 2010