Sail Melbourne was a great event in 2005. Port Phillip Bay turned on beautiful sailing conditions, with predominantly light–medium conditions testing the sailors in some tight racing. Josh Beaver won with a perfect score, but was pushed all the way by Jake Gunther and a rapidly improving Will Wild.

Race 1 (8–10 knot building sea breeze, outer trapezoid course)
A boat–favoured start, the fleet was tightly bunched at boat end. Josh sheeted on first, to grab a one boat–length lead at the start. The fleet hit the first shift and tacked, chasing the pressure line of the new sea breeze out to the right. Josh lead around the top mark, with Will six boat–lengths back, closely followed by Jake, John & Michael. With the pressure filling from behind, the fleet closed up on the reach, separated by only about ten boat–lengths. Once around the wing mark, the fleet split down the run. With the waves coming from the port quarter, Josh & Will chased the bigger waves closer to shore to the right (looking downwind), whilst Jake looked for the better pressure to the left. Will took the lead on the far right, but then gybed late, and was passed by Josh with the inside running at the bottom mark. After rounding the bottom mark, the fleet went right chasing the pressure. Josh stretched away, with Will & Jake caught in a battle for second, and John & Michael in a similarly fierce battle for fourth. But at the finish, that was how it stayed.

1st Josh Beaver, 2nd Will Wild, 3rd Jake Gunther, 4th John Shallvey, 5th Michael Dicker

Race 2 (10-12 knot sea breeze, outer trapezoid course)
With the boat end favoured again, Jake won the start at the boat, with John & Michael to leeward, and Josh & Will safely tucked away on his weather hip. Will tacked off early to clear his air, then Josh & Michael also tacked across, surfing out to the right on some waves created by a passing powerboat. Jake & John continued left, looking for the geographic left–hand shift off the shore. This split the fleet, with the boats out on the right hooking into better pressure and coming out ahead. At the top mark it was Josh first, closely followed by Will and Michael, with Jake & John another twenty boat–lengths back. Pressure from behind closed the fleet up on the reach, with Jake passing Michael to leeward. At the wing mark, the fleet was back together, with less than ten boat–lengths separating first from last. Josh stayed close to the rhumb–line down the run, with Will & Jake trading gybes close behind. Then Will split to the right (looking downwind) surfing a good set of waves, whilst Jake gybed to the left into pressure, passing Will in the process. John got the better of Michael on the run, beating him around the bottom mark. Up the next beat, Josh led the fleet right, looking for the better pressure, and, after tangling with the laser fleet starting their race, that was the order in which the fleet finished.

1st Josh Beaver, 2nd Jake Gunther, 3rd Will Wild, 4th John Shallvey, 5th Michael Dicker

Race 3 (10-12 knot fading sea breeze, outer trapezoid course)
With the sea breeze fading in its late afternoon rotation to the left, Josh won the pin–favoured start and led the fleet out to the left lay–line. The breeze kept dialling left, so the fleet tacked over and lifted up to the top mark. At the top mark it was Josh, Will, Jake, Michael and John, all in quick succession. The reach was a procession, with the fleet sticking close to the rhumb–line. On the run, Josh stretched out, whilst two pairs of boats, Jake & Will and Michael & John, traded gybes looking for the better waves to surf in the dying breeze. Jake lost his mainsheet through the ratchet block, and Will slipped through him on a set of waves. Up the next beat, Josh went left with Will, whilst Jake took a bite back to the right and dropped back five boat–lengths. Michael and John were engaging in their own match race, fighting tack–for–tack all the way up the beat. Down the final run, Josh stretched out to take the win. Behind him, Jake closed up on Will, taking advantage of his superior speed downwind. In the final 200m of the run, Jake separated to the left (looking downwind), hooking into slightly better pressure. Will gybed back, but it was too late, with Jake taking the inside overlap at the bottom mark, and second place across the finish line. Michael managed to hold out John down the run, and took fourth across the line.

1st Josh Beaver, 2nd Jake Gunther, 3rd Will Wild, 4th Michael Dicker, 5th John Shallvey

Race 4 (8–12 knot gradient from sea breeze direction, outer trapezoid course)
With something funky going on upstairs, the fleet waited around for three hours for the breeze to fill in. At four o’clock, the breeze finally came in, with an unstable gradient from the sea breeze direction (180). With the boat favoured, John won the start, second from the boat, forcing Josh to tack off soon after the start. John tacked across with Josh, staying in control. Will and Michael took a bite left, tacking on a small shift that turned into a 20 degree monster! With Will and Michael on the inside of the rotation, Will was first to the top mark, followed by Josh (who managed to get back across to the left), and Michael, with John suffering on the right–hand side after his great start. Down the reach, Josh and Michael got caught in a luffing match, ending up way above the rhumb–line with Michael taking the pass to windward. With Josh and Michael playing silly buggers, Will stretched out his lead, and John closed up from behind to be right on Josh’s transom around the wing mark. On the run, with the waves coming from the port aft quarter, Josh took advantage of his superior downwind technique in the marginal surfing conditions, surfing all the way through to the lead. Up the beat, the fleet played the shifts, whilst trying to stay right of centre, towards the better pressure. On the final run, the fleet closed up again, with better pressure from behind, before Josh got a yellow flag near the bottom mark, trying a little too hard to surf in the marginal conditions. While Josh took his penalty, Will almost snuck through, but just missed by a boat–length, failing to capitalise on the opening. Michael allowed John to get an inside overlap on him at the bottom mark, and gave up the 3rd place within sight of the finish line.

1st Josh Beaver, 2nd Will Wild, 3rd John Shallvey, 4th Michael Dicker

Race 5 (6–8 knot dying gradient breeze, outer trapezoid course)
With the boat favoured, Josh won the start to leeward of the fleet bunched at the boat, then squeezed up, forcing the fleet to tack off to clear air. The fleet tick–tacked up the beat, taking advantage of the random flicks of the breeze left and right. At the top mark it was Josh, then Will, John and Michael. The rest of the race played out fairly simply, with Josh stretching out from Will, and John and Michael fighting it out the whole way for third place.

1st Josh Beaver, 2nd Will Wild, 3rd John Shallvey, 4th Michael Dicker

Race 6 (8–10 knot light sea breeze, outer trapezoid course)
With the pin end of the start line favoured, but more pressure on the right side of the beat, the fleet was split at the start, with Josh & Will at the pin end, and John, Jake & Michael at the boat end. Will started on port, ducked Josh at the pin, and headed right, just crossing the rest of the fleet to head out to the favoured side. With the breeze at its maximum oscillation left, the fleet soon followed Will out to the right. But Will crossed ahead, to lead at the top mark, followed by Josh, Jake, John & Michael. Down the run, Josh managed to catch and pass Will, again demonstrating the effect of sound downwind technique in light wind downwind. The regular shifts up the next beat kept the fleet in close quarters, with a number of close crosses as the sailors jockeyed for the best position into the next shift. But the passing lanes were limited, and no positions changed by the finish.

1st Josh Beaver, 2nd Will Wild, 3rd Jake Gunther, 4th John Shallvey, 5th Michael Dicker

Race 7 (8–12 knot sea breeze, outer trapezoid course)
The pin was again heavily favoured, and the fleet all started at the pin, before tacking out the right–hand lay–line chasing a pressure line. At the top mark it was Will leading, closely followed by Jake. Josh had scrambled up to third, having missed the start. The reach was a procession, with Will stretching out into a handy lead. On the run, Jake chased the bigger waves towards to shore, but was passed by Josh, who hooked into some better pressure on the left (looking downwind) and closed up to Will. Josh tucked in on Will’s transom, using his wind shadow to close the gap. Coming into the bottom mark, Josh sharply rode up inside of Will who then luffed to hold his position. However, Will entered the two–boat zone and, in sailing Josh past the mark, infringed. Amidst yells of “Protest”, the boats scrambled around the mark, taking full advantage of the modified rule allowing contact with the mark. After some consideration, Will took his penalty (only one turn under the modified rules), dropping back to Jake in third place. Josh, Will & John again went right, trying to reach the pressure line before hitting the lay–line. Jake separated from the fleet, taking Michael with him to the left, looking for the geographic shift off the shore. However, the geographic bend never eventuated, and Josh, Will and John filled the top three placings, some distance ahead of Jake and Michael.

1st Josh Beaver, 2nd Will Wild, 3rd John Shallvey, 4th Jake Gunther, 5th Michael Dicker

Race 8 (5–8 knot dying sea breeze, outer trapezoid course)
With the pin even more heavily favoured this time, all of the fleet was bunched at the pin. Will won the start right on the pin, with a superbly executed port–tack approach and tack underneath the fleet. John tacked off immediately after the start, looking for the pressure to the right. He was soon followed by Josh, then Michael, with Will applying a loose cover on the weather hip of the fleet. After a long tack out to the right, the fleet just caught the last line of pressure on the starboard lay–line in to the mark. At the top mark it was Will leading, followed by Josh, John and Michael. The fleet stayed in that order down the reach, before Josh took advantage of his superior speed downwind to pass Will and take the lead. Behind the leading two, Michael & John staged a battle royale in the dying breeze, trading gybes to try and force the advantage on the run. Michael took the advantage at the bottom mark, leading John into the beat. With the breeze fading to less than five knots, Josh clamped a close cover on Will, whilst John launched into a tacking duel with Michael. The race committee made the best decision of the day, and decided to finish the race at the windward mark. Josh forced Will out to the port lay–line, ensuring the win. Michael opened the door, failing to cover John out of a tack, and John forced the door wide open, taking the advantage and third place.

1st Josh Beaver, 2nd Will Wild, 3rd John Shallvey, 4th Michael Dicker

Race 9 (12–25+ knot sea breeze, outer trapezoid)
Finally, the big wave Melbourne that we all know and love! A hot day soon gave way to a big sea breeze. And what a sea breeze it was! Off the start, the beat soon turned into a hike–off, with Josh taking full advantage of his extra kilos and younger legs to stretch out to a good lead. Down the run, the breeze started to really crank, with one–to–one pumping off the boom soon giving way to three–to–one through the blocks, to avoid getting literally yanked out of the boat by the gusts. Josh stayed upright, whilst both John and Michael hit the water hard with big capsizes. Michael decided that the good old Vanguard wasn’t really up to that sort of punishment and headed for home. With Finns leaping out the water upwind, and mainsails fully inverted in the big gusts, the Finns showed how much they love sailing in big breeze and waves. Will stayed upright to grab the second, almost five minutes behind the fat fella out front, with John taking third in his home town conditions. The race committee, having to deal with 49ers and tornados in pieces all over the place, then decided to pull the pin, and called the remaining race off. Allowing the Finns to scoot in for an early beer.

1st Josh Beaver, 2nd Will Wild, 3rd John Shallvey

Race 10 (2–5 knot northerly gradient, outer trapezoid)
After losing a race the day before, it was an early 12pm start for all classes. However, the wind refused to cooperate. After waiting around for an hour, the Finns finally got away. Coming off the line, Josh tacked away to the right, but soon came back onto starboard as the rest of the fleet headed left. The gradient breeze made life unpredictable, as gusts touched down, rotating the breeze up to 30 degrees at a time. The winners were the sailors who kept their boat moving through the light patches without stalling, with Josh rounding the mark one boat–length ahead of Will. The breeze had rotated significantly to the left, making the reach very tight, keeping the fleet in the same order. Rounding the wing mark, Josh stayed on the rhumb–line, while Will took a little leverage to the right (looking downwind). John & Michael rounded ten boat–lengths behind and took a high course on the inside, sailing towards a pressure band on the left. Hitting this pressure, John & Michael quickly accelerated, drawing level with the two leaders, John only being denied the lead by a last minute defensive move to cover by Josh. The fleet went around the bottom mark in a pack – Josh, John, Will & Michael. Up the beat, Will & John split left, taking a poor angle out to the left in search of more pressure. Josh & Michael took the lift towards the shore, and three-quarters up the beat, looked to be miles ahead of the other two. But then John & Will got the pressure they were after, and ended up reaching into the top mark. Josh just got around first, followed by John, then Will, with Michael getting out of phase at the top of the beat. Down the run, John again attacked on the inside, but was covered by Josh, who went on to take the win.

1st Josh Beaver, 2nd John Shallvey, 3rd Will Wild, 4th Michael Dicker

Conclusion
Sail Melbourne was a great regatta – with some good, close racing and a enjoyable time had by all. Will showed that his good form earlier in the year at Sail Brisbane was not just home water advantage – taking his sailing up to a new level. Jake showed his usual flashes of brilliance that everyone expects from this extremely well–credentialled Finn sailor – although the lead up to the Etchell nationals was clearly a distraction. John saved his best for last – almost snatching a win on the last day to deny Josh a perfect score. And Michael showed that he will be a force to be reckoned with in years to come – believe it or not, but he isn’t even eighteen yet! (Watch out all you aspiring Olympians!)

Onshore, the Australian Finn Association AGM was held, with John re–elected el Presidente and Josh elected as Secretary. The new ‘national’ and ‘classic’ divisions proposed by Will were accepted, and will compete at the next Nationals. So hopefully we will see a bigger Finn fleet at Sail Melbourne next year, including ‘national’ and ‘classic’ division boats, sailing for their own trophy within the open fleet.