Our friends at the Mackay Model Mariners were bestowed the honour of hosting the 2007 Central Queensland IOM Championships in the picturesque Duck Ponds, just 50 meters from our accommodation. 5 GRCYC Skippers made the trip north with Matthew Jackson making his first regatta appearance. Day 1 started with a good fresh south easterly breeze which held steady for the two days providing the 18 skippers ideal conditions for sailing in their A rigs. Inconsistancy cost the front running GRCYC boats early with some big points racking up but then some top 5 finishes straight after. After sailing 9 races on day one there was not a lot of points between the top 6 skippers, Jon Wilson, Col Cameron, Jabin Crisp, Allan Walker, and Rod Molkentin from GRCYC (but now living in Brissy).Sunday turned out to be much the same though the wind was more southerly which gave the skippers a longer windward beat. Once again the competition was hot as the lead for the top spot changed with every race as the racing was so close. Liz Datsun found her groove and started competing stongly in A fleet with some top 4 finishes. Dave Harris copped some bad luck with some poor sailing by others impacting on his results. Dave certainly sailed better than his result showed. By 3:30 racing was complete 19 races had been sailed and the scores hidden so none of the top 5 skippers knew who had won. When the results were released, 6 points was the difference between the top 5 skippers, and to prove that consistency pays off, the eventual winner GRCYC's Grant Cooper (Sail#12) came from the clouds to win the regatta from Jabin Crisp (04) second, Jon Wilson (181) was third, Col Cameron (29) was fourth and Allan Walker (168) Fifth. Thanks to Tim Parker, the PRO, David Black who did the scoring and to the Mackay Model Mariners who gave their time to help out. Everyone agreed that it was some of the best racing that they had ever done.Full racing scorecard CLICK HERE