| Australia. Noosaville’s GoTo Blazer’s champion Chris Annear to defend title with Mark 3 Feral |
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| Wednesday, 18 October 2006 | |
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Ian Grant: Noosaville’s Australian GoTo Blazer’s champion Chris Annear is thinking ahead in relation to the defence of his national crown. He recently sold the Mark 2 version of his championship winning sloop with a Mark 3 Feral under the final stages of construction at Yandina. It’s unusual for skipper Annear to be watching from the shore but the sale of his title winning 18 month old Feral has allowed him to plan ahead and carry the Team Noosa ‘Battle flag’ into further honours during the 2007 season. “The strict one-design nature of Blazer 23 racing leaves the crews with little margin for error and the plan to build the new boat is about staying ahead of the opposition”. Annear said. His entry into the Blazer 23 class hardly created a stir among the tactical strong Gold Coast fleet. He had bought a race weary old Blazer 23 which he affectionately christened Feral because she had the appearance of coming of second best in a dog-fight. The top sides of the hull was pitted with scratches however Annear loved the boat which while being heavy and slow allowed him to have a good look at the class hot-shots including the Australian championship winning Southport Yacht Club skippers Peter Lahey and Neil Sherring. This exceptionally talented duo who refined their match racing skills with club racing against each other dominated the interclub Go To Blazers Australian championship trophy. But that started to change when Chris Annear bought the fiberglass moulds of the American designed match racing yacht and launched a lightweight Feral complete with an efficient set of sails. “That was the start of a new and interesting challenge for us; we were on the pace but still had to apply the human elements of technique and tactics to race on equal terms with the pace setting Peter Lahey (Plum Crazy) and Neil Sherring (Urgent)”. “There was a lot of testing and evaluating to do but we were confident of being on the right track in terms of boat speed which was confirmed when Feral claimed a rare win over the Gold Coast crews on their home course”. “The pressure was then on us to defend the championship on our home club course on the Noosa River” Annear said. All three skippers are great mates and enjoy having a few drinks however that takes on a whole new meaning when they are called upon to protect individual reputations on the race course. As expected the feral crew who are known as tenaciously tough fighters lived up to their reputations to be the star performers and the first crew to win both the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast match racing championships and become the undisputed champions. Skipper Annear and his feral crew including veteran tactician John McMinn will be back to dealing with ironing out the fine tuning ‘bugs’ when Feral mark 3 is launched next month. The new feral looks fast in the boat shed, but her crew will now have to prove that potential when they defend their National championship on the race course next year. |
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 18 October 2006 ) |
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