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2004 Rickshaw's Australian & International Access Dinghy Championships

Report, Awards, Statistics, Full Results (PDF 92KB)
Photo Gallery

REPORT

On the weekend of 2 & 3 October 2004 the Rickshaw's Australian & International Access Dinghy Championships were held at Belmont 16 Footers Sailing Club on the shores of beautiful Lake Macquarie.

One hundred and five competitors from Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and six Australian States (QLD, NSW, ACT, VIC, SA & WA) began arriving at Belmont during the week, bringing with them Access 2.3, 303 and Liberty Dinghies. Unfortunately the weather was not kind, with coastal gale warnings in place for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, whipping up the normally smooth and sparkling waters, to short one metre on-shore waves. Not ideal circumstances to launch the eighty Access Dinghies from the beach.

The Australian Army had generously erected a large floating pontoon to assist with launching the Dinghies and management of the thirteen safety craft. Unfortunately during Friday afternoon's wild conditions, with gusts over 60 knots, the pontoon was damaged and had to be removed. This spectacle provided great entertainment for the crowd, watching as Terry (Sailability ACT) and Graham (Sailability Belmont) on the jetty, and Belmont's Luke Hughes in the water and on the pontoon manoeuvred it out of harm's way.

The Saturday forecast was for 25-35 building to 40 knots during the afternoon. Racing was abandoned for the day. Even though the excessive winds forecast for the afternoon did not eventuate, the on-shore wave action made launching the boats impossible. However, all was not lost as the international teams were taken to a local animal park and everyone else was made welcome at the 16 Footers Sailing Club, able to access the Club's very comfortable facilities.

Malaysian sailor, Zulkifli Mohamad Ali

During Saturday afternoon the Race Committee re-organised the schedule so that races for all eight divisions could be sailed. The plan would have worked except that the sailors were greeted on Sunday morning with calm conditions. Unfortunately for Divisions 1, 2 (2.3's) and 6 (303), the more experienced sailors who could have handled the predicted 20 knots of breeze, literally floated in circles for most of the morning.

When the wind finally arrived at midday Sunday, racing got under way for the remaining five divisions. With a steady 12 knot breeze the remaining divisions, including the Liberty, enjoyed some great racing.

At the Saturday night regatta dinner, the presentation of Yachting Australia's 2004 Disabled Sailor of the Year Award was made. CEO of Yachting Australia, Phil Jones, traveled from Sydney to make the presentations, reading the citations of the four finalists - Maryanne Ireland (NSW), Andrew Hartley (SA), Brett Pearce (NSW) and Dan Fitzgibbon (QLD). Chairman of Sailability Australia, Bruce Dickson, presented the awards to joint winners of the 2004 Disabled Sailor of the Year - Dan Fitzgibbon and Andrew Hartley.

Our thanks go to all the volunteers from the local Sea Scouts, the ACT Scouting movement, the team from P&O Nedlloyd, as well as the hardworking Sailability Belmont volunteers. The event could not happen without the hundreds of helpers from Sailability clubs from around Australia. A big thank you to the regatta's major sponsor, Rickshaw's.

Thank you one and all for your continued support.

FRIDAY:
The jetty at Belmont 16 Footers Sailing Club during the gale.

SUNDAY
The same jetty at Belmont during sailing during the afternoon on Sunday - just 1 1/2 days later.

Awards

DIVISIONAL WINNERS

STATISTICS

Number of competitors - 105

Number of Access Dinghies - 76
37 x Access 2.3
26 x Access 303
13 x Liberty

Female Competitors = 42%

Competitors with a disability = 75%

Photo Gallery

Professional photos are available for purchase from Eternal Images. There are many fantastic shots of individual sailors. These are a sample and there are many others, to order or ask about specific photos, contact Chris Warnaby.

Photo gallery - courtesy of David, Alexandra and Morgan Staley.

Copyright © Access Dinghies, 2002-2005