Simon Barwood proves Bulletproof in Mirror State Championships hosted by Princess Royal Sailing Club

Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club member Simon Barwood delivered a masterful display to win the 2022 Mirror State Championships hosted by the Princess Royal Sailing Club last week.

The titles were held in Albany waters over three days and Barwood was nearly flawless in his campaign.

Barwood’s Mirror is aptly named Bulletproof and nothing could stop it in the championships.

Eighteen Mirrors from various clubs in WA competed in eight heats over a harbour course in mainly strong easterly winds that ranged from 22 knots on Wednesday to 15 knots by Friday.

Naturally, with winds like that there were bound to be mishaps, so it was no surprise to see dozens of capsizes and broken rigging especially in Wednesday’s early heats.

Apart from Barwood the other most consistent skippers were Doug Pianta, who took third place overall in the 2021 titles with 2 Pudd, and Ella Maesepp in Take a Bite, who was second overall last year.

So dominant were Barwood and his crew in Tyson Barwood with Bulletproof that of the eight heats sailed, they won seven and finished second in the other.

Each competitor drops their worst two heats to calculate the final results and Barwood was a comfortable winner overall.

David Ponton skippering Vilgilante 5 claimed second place and was the only boat to take a race win off Bulletproof.

Pianta in 2 Pudd was third while the top five was rounded out by Maesepp in Take a Bite and David Pilbeam in Steppenwolf.

The three-day championships were hailed a great success by the visiting sailors and the local organisers of the event.