Tribeca convinced better days ahead with rebuilt boat

Buoyed by a strong showing in the Riley Fittings St George club championships at the weekend – on a rebuilt boat – the crew on Tribeca head to next month’s Australian 16ft Championships convinced better days are ahead.

The Ben Bradley-skippered boat picked up a second and fourth in heats four and five of the club championship, just a fortnight after deciding to make the 14-hour drive to Hervey Bay for the nationals.

Bradley and crewmates Rory Cox and James Turner are late entries for the Aussies after sorting work and domestic duties and finally getting Tribeca right after almost two years of frustrating and painstaking work.
The boat underwent major structural changes after ongoing problems surfaced but is now humming along nicely.

“We’ve had a real battle against the boat,” Bradley said.

“It just never felt right underneath us.

“We pretty much had to cut it open and re-do the whole boat.”

Now, the pain has finally turned to joy as everything starts to align at the business end of the season.
“We were pretty pleased with that performance at the weekend,” Bradley said.

“We got off to a bad start in the first race but kept grinding away and made some gains to get into second.

“The second race we had a great start and great first spinnaker run and just made a couple of little errors in the next leg and dropped back.

“We were able to hustle our way back and get a fourth.

“We’re happy with the boat and happy with the way we’re sailing and looking forward to getting up there (to Hervey Bay) and giving it a crack.

 

“We’ve had great support from a lot of people, particularly from our loyal sponsor Tribeca.”
Bosker Build (Sarah Lee) tightened its grip on the club championship with back-to-back victories.
Bosker has won all three heats contested to have the title all but secured.

Lee’s sister and St George fleet rival – Wichard Pacific skipper Amy Mulkearns – can only marvel at her younger sibling’s growing list of achievements.

“As the older sister I was usually the one out in front when we were younger but she’s now taking the lead,” Amy said.

“It’s been great watching her over the past couple of years and she was the one who inspired me to get back into racing after I took time off to have kids.

“I won’t be competing at the nationals but I will finish off the season at St George and go in the next nationals.
“I’m really enjoying it.”

Wichard picked up an 11th and seventh to set just below mid-table on the overall club championship pointscore.

RESULTS: https://stgeorgesailing.com.au/results/2024-25/16index.htm
REPLAY: https://www.youtube.com/live/OvbR1MZh1ck?si=t2_j2FX9ffXEiimT