Taylor's talent rewarded at Etchells Aust Winters

Mornington Etchells class skipper Graeme Taylor again exercised his tactical racing skill to retain the lead in the Musto Australian Winter championship series with his high performance sloop Magpie.

Taylor who normally 'calls the shots' as tactician on Grant Wharington's super maxi Skandia Wild Thing capitalised on the experience of Wharington and the equally clever Queenslander Simon Gorman to collectively master difficult sailing conditions off Mooloolaba Beach earlier today.

The Magpie crew sailed smart in all three races finishing with a 7-1-2 to add to their impressive first heat win on Friday.

They have collectively shown to be the masters in both light and moderate winds to generally dictate control of the points table on 11 points holding an important 6 penalty point buffer over fellow Victorian Mark Bulka in Critical Balance while local Sunshine Coast helmsman Mike O'Brien holds third with Racer X on 19 points.

As the points suggest the Magpie crew have consistently sailed all four races with a clever tactical strategy but Taylor, Wharington and Gorman all understand they will be under the hammer when the final two heats are decided in what appears to be a challenging weather system.

A strong wind warning has been issued for the entire Queensland coast waters between Torres Strait and Point Danger adding another test for the championship leader to face when the battle lines are drawn off Pt Cartwright tomorrow.

However Taylor while building on his point score will need to reproduce similar consistent speed and tactical strategy to ward off his challengers.
Both Mark Bulka and Mike O'Brien have each won a heat and they will almost certainly apply some tactical attention on the Magpie crew when the sails are tensioned for the important title deciding races.

All three crews are capable of winning the title however there will be no margin for error particularly as former champions Cameron Miles (Blake Snake) and Mark Bradford helming 870 have the points and the heavy wind sailing reputations to enter into the battle for the prestigious trophy.

The points suggest that the Magpie crew deserve to be the favourite to win but they still have to be very protective of their sailing space and finish one of the two races in the top five to become the 2008 Musto Australian Winter champions.

This task will become extremely difficult as Mark Bulka, Mike O'Brien, Cameron Miles and Mark Bradford have all conceded 'it will be game on' when the sails are tensioned for what is expected to be another exciting spectacle of one design racing where the human element related skills play the major role between winning and losing.

2008 Musto Australian Winter Etchells Championship.
Progress Pts:

Magpie (Graeme Taylor, Vic) 1-7-1-2 11pts 1.
Critical Balance (Mark Bulka, Vic) 6-2-8-1 17pts 2.
Racer X (Mike O'Brien, Qld) 3-1-2-13 19pts 3.
Black Snake (Cameron Miles, NSW) 5-3-6-7 21pts 4.
870 (Mark Bradford, Qld) 11-10-3-4 28pts 5.
Men At Work (Bucky Smith, Qld) 17-4-12-3 36pts 6.
Racer XY (Jason Muir, Qld) 20-5-5-6 36pts 7.
Triad (John Bertrand,Vic) 7-16-4-10 37pts 8.
Fifteen (David Clark, NSW) 4-11-23-11 49pts 9.
Fair bump play on (David Rose, Qld) 8-19-7-18 52 pts 10.