Venue

Elwood Sailing Club, Victoria, Australia.

Dates  

13th -17th April 2006

Sponsors

Racing

Mark Wiggins, from the very competitive McCrae Yacht Club fleet in Victoria, Australia, sailed a very consistent series to win the Maersk Line 2006 Paper Tiger Catamaran Internationals by just one point! The series, sailed at Elwood Sailing Club on Victoria's Port Phillip Bay, saw seven different winners of the seven races. Wiggins was not one of these and amazingly his best placing was 4th, although he did have four of these. It is incredible to think Wiggins never once placed in the top three in any race yet still won the event. This is a testimony to his consistent sailing in the varied conditions and also to the struggle for consistency by many of the other top sailors at the event.

The series started with a light race which was followed by a very strong front that prevented further racing on the first day. A very heavy and lumpy race followed the next day, with only one race being held before conditions again got too strong. The third day saw a moderate and lumpy race in the morning, followed by a light and lumpy one in the afternoon. Having completed only four races in the first three days, the fleet sailed three races back to back in strong but flat conditions on the final day.

Runner up in the series, just one point behind Wiggins, was Tasmanian Bruce Rose, the winner of the sixth race.

Third place went to Ollie McKeon, who capped off the series in a great way, winning the last race. Amazingly, Ollie was not even part of the Australian Team, having finished 19th at the last Australian Championships. Ollie is also a Junior and was a very convincing winner of the Junior Championship.

Defending Champion, Bryan Anderson, had a number of problems during the series and finished ninth.

The seven race winners were Ian Marcovitch (NSW, Aus), Bryan Anderson (Vic, Aus), Peter Robins (NZ), Glenn Syman (NZ), Richard McKeon (Vic, Aus), Bruce Rose (Tas, Aus) and Ollie McKeon (Vic, Aus).

The Teams Event was convincingly won by the Australian Team, who were very pleased to claim it back after losing it to the New Zealand Team at the last Internationals in Howick, New Zealand, two years ago.

Results

Download the Overall Results

Team Results:

1. Australia - 644pts
2. New Zealand - 1026pts

Top Ten Gear

Download the list of the gear used by the top ten sailors at the event