ALYSSA Kelsey and Skye O'Brien had a great series of races to win the state and country championships at the Holdfast Trainer Association State Titles 2012 on Kangaroo Island.
Five Port Lincoln boats with their skippers, crews and families made the long trip to take part in the event.
Amy O'Brien also made the trip with her three children who were all crewing for different boats.
Friday, January 20 saw the first day of racing in windy and rough conditions and four heats were held.
Due to the conditions there were lots of capsises and gear malfunctions that led to retirements.
Heat one saw three Kangaroo Island boats - Vampire 3, PeeWee and Bobby Dazzla - come in first, second and third. Heat two saw Flat Out with Alyssa Kelsey and Skye O'Brien on board come in first with Vampire and PeeWee taking second and third.
In heat three, Flat Out, Vampire 3 and PeeWee took the honours again.
Vampire 3, Flat Out and PeeWee proved unbeatable in the conditions in heat four.
That night Tim Frears brought his collection of instruments to the caravan park and a jam session was enjoyed by everyone.
Saturday saw windy and rough conditions again and the sailors were keen to have another couple of races.
Only one race was able to be held and five boats did not finish the race due to the conditions.
Offcut (Port Lincoln), skippered by Rose O'Donnell and crewed by R'bca Ford, came in with broken cleats. Thanks to the help of a KI club member, the boat was repaired and ready to go back into the water for the next heat.
Due to the weather conditions, the heats were called off for the day. The top three in heat five were Flat Out, Vampire 3 and Bobby Dazzla.
That afternoon all the families were able to have an afternoon of sight-seeing. All travelled down to Flinders Chase National Park to take in the breathtaking views of Admiral's Arch with its entertaining seal colony, Remarkable Rocks and Kelly Hill Caves.
Sunday morning the sailors woke to perfect conditions for sailing.
The boats hit the water and the wind dropped. Swimming became the highest priority for all skippers and their crews and laughter and squealing was all that could be heard from the shore.
The races were then postponed in the hope the forecast wind would come up.
Two more heats were held later in the morning in light, fluky conditions. As the boats headed out, a pod of dolphins swam amongst them much to the delight of the sailors and everybody on the beach.
Heat six saw outstanding performances from Boeing with Madeleine Harris and Ella Klopp coming in second behind Flat Out, with A Little Vicious, skippered by lndiah Kelsey and crewed by Campbell O'Brien, coming third.
Heat seven saw another outstanding performance by Boeing with another second and this time in third place was Show Me The Money with Brooklyn George and Airlie O'Brien on board.
At the end of every day's racing presentations were made for the heats that day and every Port Lincoln boat, their skipper and crew won a trophy for either a first, second or third in the race or on handicap.
At the final presentation the new state champions Alyssa Kelsey and Skye O'Brien were presented with the perpetual trophy for both the state and country champions.
Kangaroo Island won the Team award.
Brooklyn George was presented with a voucher for a new jib as the encouragement award for the titles.
Special mention goes to regatta onshore helper Coen George for running around helping all the boats with missing or forgotten parts and helping with repairs.
Also to Meti Ford, and Tayla and Mitchell Kelsey for being the number one supporters on the beach during every race.
Overall results: Flat Out (PL), Vampire 3 (KI), Pee Wee (Kl), Bobby Dazzla (Kl), Pilchard (Adel), Show Me The Money (PL), Boeing (PL), Offcut (PL), A Little Vicious (PL), In The Line of Fire (Adel), Racing Red (Adel) and Ocean Angel (Adel).
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