(Sydney, Australia)- This year’s J/24 Nationals were sailed on the fabulous
Sydney Harbour and the teamwork at the host club, Royal Prince Edward YC, was
nothing short of amazing. Though the fleet had thirteen teams
participating, the depth of talent was huge and great skippers were back in the
pack. Midway through the regatta, Ben Lamb, Dave Suda and Steve Girdis
all had a mathematical chance of winning the regatta. It was incredibly
close racing all the way until the end. In fact, big changes could (and did)
happen on the final day of racing in the middle of the pack where just 6 pts
separated six 
places! In this
group, Rolex Sydney-Hobart winning tactician Sean Kirkjian, Vlad (Singapore),
Doug Watson, J Spot, Ron Thompson, Dave West, are all great skippers and would
be treated to a “roller-coaster” ride of ups & downs all the way to the
end.Steve Girdis sailing CONVICTS REVENGE was crowned the Australian 2014 J/24 National Champion in an ultra-tight battle in the last two races, winning by just one point as a result of winning the last race! It was not an easy title to come by with so many tough cowboys vying for the podium. It was consistent sailing that ultimately won the day for the CONVICTS, posting a 3-3-3-6-2-3-1-2-4-1 scoreline for 23 pts net. Early regatta leaders, Ben Lamb’s KAOTIC crew, surely must’ve “blown a fuse” after winning four of the first six races
(maybe it was too much
grog?). In races 7, 8, 9 they posted a disastrous 6-5-10 and basically
had to win the last race to gain the title. Alas, that was not in the cards for
them, watching Girdis’s CONVICTS win the finale and bragging rights as “Top
Gun” in the Australian J/24 fleet. Dave Suda’s gangsters on PACEMAKER were lying second after eight races with a very consistent scoreline of 1-4-2-4-4-2-3-1. But, like their colleagues on KAOTIC, they also experienced a bit of chaos with the “wheels falling off their shopping trolley” in the last two races. PACEMAKER’s 5-7 in races 9 & 10 dropped them into third overall, taking the bronze in a tough, tough fleet. Rounding out the top five were BY THE LEE and Kirkjian’s SAIL PAC in 4th & 5th, respectively. For more J/24 Australian Nationals sailing information
