They say ignorance is bliss……….
It’s also a winning formula if you happen to be Manly 16ft Skiff Club sailor Tyler Dransfield. The Red Pumps skipper was so busy caught up with social and work commitments during the week that he didn’t realise he was about to sail in the first two heats of the club championship on Saturday.
It was only the night before the Club Championship double header that he was alerted to the fact, but that didn’t stop him from guiding Red Pumps to two all-the-way victories alongside experienced crewmates Greg Windust and Jay Harris in a fresh southerly.
While yet to be officially verified, it’s believed to be the first time the same boat has won two club championship heats on the same day in Manly’s long history. “It had been a busy week and I hadn’t really given the weekend a lot of thought,” Dransfield explained.
“I just thought it’d be a club point-score race until I was told on Friday afternoon that we were sailing two heats of the clubbie.”
“I think not knowing probably did help the preparation. Sometimes you can play a race over in your head all week or over-think things, but we went in pretty relaxed.” The lead-up may have been relaxed but Red Pumps was all business once the gun fired.
They led at each mark to secure a tight 15-second win over Moonen Yachts (Daniel Turner) and Modern Concept Construction (Kurt Hansen) in the day’s first race. It was pretty much rinse and repeat in race two, with Dransfield, Windust and Harris again clearing out to an early lead and maintaining their vice-like grip to the finish. The only difference was a change of position on the lower steps of the podium – MCC (second) and Moonen (third) swapping places.
“We’ve always been pretty good in the wind. Greg’s big, Jay’s big enough so those conditions really suited us,” Dransfield said. “The two races were very similar. Great starts, first to every mark, good upwinds, reading the compass nicely and trying to stay on the lifts.” It’s early days but two “bullet” finishes have given Red Pumps a handy advantage in one of the three major titles they are bidding for this season.
Dransfield has picked up a third and fourth in his previous two club championship campaigns and is hungry for greater success. He said: “Long way to go, obviously, but it’s a great start. The challenge is to keep the results coming. “The clubbies has been won by some great sailors and we’d love to get our name up there on the board. It’s definitely on our radar.”
Red Pumps also holds the upper hand on the handicap club championship pointscore, just ahead of Modern Concept Construction and Red Pumps Red (Zoe Dransfield) after the opening two heats.
In the 13s, 2 bullets from Harken put them 2 points clear of Imei and Botany Scaffold.
WORDS | Adam Lucius
IMAGES | Sail Media
