Monthly Archives: February 2013

18′ Skiffs – Race 5

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18ft Skiffs:
Winning Group 2013 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship, Race 5.
Today’s race sponsored by Smeg
Thurssday, 21 February 2013
Sydney Harbour

A rig choice in the park at Double Bay was critical to the Coopers-Rag & Famish Hotel’s victory in Race 5 of the Winning Group 2013 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship on Sydney Harbour today.

With the ese breeze on the edge of the #1 and #2 rigs, the teams electing to go for the bigger rigs won the day as they filled four of the top five placings.

Jack Macartney, David Witt and Mark Kennedy took the honours in Coopers-Rag & Famish Hotel by just 18s from Smeg (Nick Press, Dan Phillips, Dave Ewings).

John Winning, Andrew Hay and Jim Beck had their best result of the championship when they brought Yandoo home in third place, 1m16s behind Smeg.

Allowing for each skiff discarding her worst performance in the regatta, Coopers-Rag & Famish Hotel joins Gotta Love It 7 (Seve Jarvin), which was placed fourth today using the smaller #2 rig.

Top visitor in today’s race was New Zealand’s Yamaha (David McDiarmid) in fifth place, followed by Appliancesonline.com.au (Micah Lane).

Gotta Love It 7 and Coopers-Rag & Famish Hotel each have a total of 8 points after discard, followed by Thurlow Fisher Lawyers (Michael Coxon) on 14, Smeg 17 and New Zealand’s C-Tech (Alex Vallings), also on 17.

Thurlow Fisher Lawyers got a ‘flyer’ at the start and was 22s ahead of Coopers-Rag & Famish at the windward mark.

Brisbane 18 Footers (Daniel Jack) was in third spot, ahead of Lumix (Jonathan Whitty), ASCC (Murray England, New Zealand) and Appliancesonline.com.au.

After a bad start Gotta Love It 7 was well back in the fleet.

Thurlow Fisher and ‘The Rag’ had a great battle downwind, then on the work back to Clarke Island, where Thurlow Fisher had increased her lead to 30s.

Appliancesonline was now third but Smeg was beginning to move up ahead of Asko Appliances (Marcus Ashley-Jones), Gotta Love It 7, Yandoo and Pica (James Mears, UK).

The Rag’s bigger sail again came to the fore on the reach into Chowder Bay where the two boats rounded together for the beat across the harbour into Rose Bay.

With Coopers-Rag & Famish Hotel holding a narrow lead over Thurlow Fisher Lawyers as the pair set spinnakers for the run back across the harbour to Taylor Bay, Thurlow’s race fell apart when skipper Michael Coxon fell overboard.

The incident is a massive setback to the team, which was previously only two points from the lead going into today’s race.

Over the final legs of the course, Smeg put out a strong challenge to The Rag but the experience on board the Rag covered Smeg’s every move in a great finish.

The Rag’s for’ard hand David Witt, who is one of the sport’s great characters, wasn’t short of a comment after the race.

“Did you notice how the top three teams were all the older guys in the fleet”.

“The younger generation will have to toughen up”, he quipped tongue in cheek.

Today’s result sheet, present pointscores and eleven photos are attached.

Race 6 on Saturday starts at 4pm and Race 7 on Sunday at 3pm.

The spectator ferry leaves Double Bay Wharf 30 minutes before the scheduled start time of each race. There will also be two ferries for Race 7 on Sunday.

For those who can’t make it onto the spectator ferry, there are many ways to follow the championship:

Live Tracking:
http://www.tractrac.com/index.php?page=eventpage&id=274

Video Coverage and ‘Pick-the-Podium’:
http://www.jj18footerstv.com

For all official race results, race reports and photographs:
http://www.18footers.com.au

Coverage is also available at http://www.18skiff.com

Frank Quealey
Australian 18 Footers League
http://www.18footers.com.au

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18 foot skiff Giltinan Championship – Race 2

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18ft Skiffs:
Winning Group 2013 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship, Race 2
Today’s race sponsored by De’Longhi Australia Pty Ltd
Sunday, 17 February 2013
Sydney Harbour

The 18ft Skiffs are noted for their dramatic nature and today’s Race 2 of the Winning Group 2013 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship on Sydney Harbour didn’t let supporters down.

While Mojo Wine, skippered by two times Australian 16 Footer champion James Dorron, took line honours, the 18s rookie skipper and his crew of Ricky Bridges and Mike McKensey were totally dismayed when they failed to get the judge’s verdict as they crossed the line.

The team had sailed the entire course not knowing they had been recalled for an on course start.

With Mojo Wine being declared a non-starter, race honours went to the Thurlow Fisher Lawyers crew of Michael Coxon, Trent Barnabas and Dave O’Connor, who took the official result by 22s from first race winner and defending champion Gotta Love It 7.

Gotta Love It 7 (Seve Jarvin, Scott Babbage, Peter Harris) held a narrow advantage over Thurlow Fisher at the final windward mark but could not hold off the Thurlow Fisher burst on the spinnaker run home.

Coopers-Rag & Famish Hotel (Jack Macartney, Dave Witt, Mark Kennedy) finished a further 57s back in third place, ahead of Smeg (Nick Press), C-Tech (Alex Vallings) and Events Clothing (Riley Dean).

Gotta Love It leads the points tally on 3 points after the first two races, followed by Turlow Fisher Lawyers and Coopers-Rag & Famish each on 5 points.

New Zealand’s C-Tech heads the visiting teams on 11 points, followed by Smeg on 13 and Appliancesonline.com.au (Micah Lane) and USA’s Howie Hamlin (CST Composites) both on 15 points.

Yamaha (David McDiarmin, New Zealand) was among the leaders after the start but Mojo Wine’s crew sailed superbly in the 8-knot ENE breeze to hold a 35s margin over Thurlow Fisher Lawyers at the windward mark.

UK’s Pica (James Mears) was in third place ahead of Team Daly (Nick Daly), Events Clothing, C-Tech and Gotta Love It 7, which was 2½m from the lead.

Alexandra South and her all-girl crew on Lomax Financial Group were also well in contention as they held 10th place as spinnakers were set for the run back to the leeward mark.

A four lap windward-leeward course had been set and at the end of the first lap there was very little separating the first four skiffs with Mojo Wine just ahead of Events Clothing, Thurlow Fisher Lawyers and Pica.

Team Daly was also extremely fast downwind and was a nearby fifth.

On the next lap, Team Daly edged out her more fancied opposition to lead as the fleet approached the leeward mark.

When the skiff hit a wave and slowed dramatically, she was hit by another craft following the race and the resulting damage to her transom forced the skiff to retire.

The shifty nature of the breeze caused numerous place changes throughout the race.

With large crowds following today’s race it looked more like the final Sunday of the championship than the first weekend.

No team has looked dominant and the week ahead may produce one of the best finishes seen at a Giltinan Championship for many years.

Today’s result sheet and seven photos are attached.

Spectator ferries will follow each of the races in the championship, leaving Double Bay Wharf at 2.30pm, with the exception of Race 6 (Saturday 23 February), when the ferry will leave at 3.30pm.

Race 3 will be sailed on Tuesday with further races on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday 24 February.

For those who can’t make it onto the spectator ferry, there are many ways to follow the championship:

Live Tracking:
http://www.tractrac.com/index.php?page=eventpage&id=274

Video Coverage and ‘Pick-the-Podium’:
http://www.jj18footerstv.com

For all official race results, race reports and photographs:
http://www.18footers.com.au

Coverage is also available at http://www.18skiff.com

Frank Quealey
Australian 18 Footers League
http://www.18footers.com.au

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18 foot skiff Giltinan Championship Race 1

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18ft Skiffs:
Winning Group 2013 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship
Today’s race sponsored by Asko Appliances
Friday, 15 February 2013
Sydney Harbour

An incident free race for the defending champion Gotta Love It 7 team proved a winning factor in a wonderful finish to Race 1 of the Winning Group 2013 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship sailed on Sydney Harbour today.

Seve Jarvin, Scott Babbage and Peter Harris were always near the lead and managed to manouvre their way around the south-east course without the dramas of their three main challengers.

At the end, Gotta Love It 7 finished just 4s ahead of Coopers-Rag & Famish Hotel (Jack Macartney, David Witt, Mark Kennedy), with Pure Blonde (Tom Clout, Rob Bell, Matt Wark) only 20s back in third place.

Thurlow Fisher Lawyers (Michael Coxon), Mojo Wine (James Dorron) and C-Tech (Alex Vallings) completed the top six placings.

Smeg (Nick Press) won the start, while Thurlow Fisher, Mojo Wine and De’Longhi-Rabbitohs (Simon Nearn) were nearby on the eastern side of the course.

When Gotta Love It 7 tacked to go o the west, Thurlow Fisher covered and the two favourites went to the east of Shark Island.

The move was a winner as Thurlow Fisher Lawyers won the race to the windward mark to lead Coopers-Rag & Famish Hotel by 35s.

Gotta Love It 7 was third, followed by Appliancesonline.com.au (Micah Lane), Pure Blonde, Smeg, De’Longhi-Rabbitohs, Yamaha (David McDiarmid) and C-Tech.

Thurlow Fisher Lawyers maintained her lead over the next two legs of the course and still held a 25s margin at the Clarke Island mark for the second spinnaker run into Chowder Bay.

Disaster struck the leader off Bradley Head when the wind disturbance off a passing Many Ferry caused a near capsize for Thurlow Fisher and gave Gotta Love It 7 the lead.

From that point ‘7’ was never headed but serious challengers by Coopers-Rag & Famish Hotel and Pure Blonde were hampered by separate incidents to those teams.

Skipper Jack Macartney fell overboard off ‘The Rag’ , while a port-and-starboard incident forced Pure Blonde to do a 360degree penalty turn at the final windward mark in Rose Bay.

Gotta Love It 7 certainly held a downwind speed advantage over ‘The Rag’ but was being pushed to the limit upwind.

A large ship leaving the harbour as the fleet made its way to the finish had a dramatic affect on many skiffs and changed the final placing throughout the fleet.

Despite a shifting wind which faded during the race, the spectacle was engrossing for spectators with so many close finishes.

A record was also set today when Alexandra South, Saskis Tidey and Lizzi Rountree became the first all girl crew in the 74 year history of the championship to complete the course.

The trio finished 28th in the 31-boat fleet in their Lomax Financial Group skiff.

Today’s result sheet and

Spectator ferries will follow each of the races in the championship, leaving Double Bay Wharf at 2.30pm, with the exception of Race 6 (Saturday 23 February), when the ferry will leave at 3.30pm.

Race 2 will be sailed tomorrow with further races on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday 24 February.

For those who can’t make it onto the spectator ferry, there are many ways to follow the championship:

Live Tracking:
http://www.tractrac.com/index.php?page=eventpage&id=274

Video Coverage and ‘Pick-the-Podium’:
http://www.jj18footerstv.com

For all official race results, race reports and photographs:
http://www.18footers.com.au

Frank Quealey
Australian 18 Footers League
http://www.18footers.com.au

Frank Quealey
Australian 18 Footers League
0417 421 952

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Race 4 of the 18 foot skiff NSW championship

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18ft Skiffs
N.S.W. Championship, Race 4
Sunday, 10 February 2013
Sydney Harbour

The Thurlow Fisher Lawyers 18ft Skiff team of Michael Coxon, Trent Barnabas and David O’Connor gave a wonderful exhibition on Sydney Harbour today when they took out Race 4 of the N.S.W. Championship in an 18-25-knots South-East wind.

After trailing Gotta Love It 7 by just 3s at the first windward mark, Thurlow Fisher Lawyers grabbed the lead when Gotta Love It 7 capsized and from that point Thurlow’s crew were brilliant as they led clearly for the rest of the course.

The battle behind the winner saw many positional changes throughout the race before Smeg (Nick Press, Dan Phillips, Dave Ewings) finally came home 1m25s back in second place.

Pure Blonde (Tom Clout, Rob Bell, Matt Wark) worked her way through the fleet, after trailing early, to finish a further 5m9s in third place.

James Dorron and his Mojo Wine team showed their skill by finishing fourth after gear failure which prevented their use of a spinnaker on two of the latter runs.

John Winning’s Yandoo was fifth, to give the team the series lead on 16 points.

Overall standings has Smeg in second place on 18, followed by Gotta Love It 7 (Seve Jarvin) on 29, Thurlow Fisher Lawyers 31, Pure Blonde 34, Coopers-Rag & Famish Hotel (Jack Macartney) and Mojo Wine on 35.

Thurlow Fisher and De’Longhi-Rabbitohs (Simon Nearn) won the start and were leading the group on the LHS of the course near Steele Point.

Gotta Love It 7 and Smeg elected to go to the right and sailed to the western side of Shark Island.

The two groups converged only 50 metres from the Rose Bay windward mark and there was little difference between them as Gotta Love It 7 led Thurlow Fisher Lawyers by the mere 3s.

Shortly after rounding the mark, Gotta Love It 7 capsized and the resulting damage has caused serious damage to the hull, which could have a drastic affect on the team’s chances of defending their Giltinan title next week.

The conditions were took a heavy toll on the race as six teams failed to complete the course, while four others did not make it to the start.

Six photos and today’s result sheet are attached.

More photos will be published later on http://www.18footers.com.au and http://www.flying18s.com. A video coverage of the race can be seen on http://www.18footerstv.com

Don’t forget ‘Pick the Podium’ with prizes to be won by just making some selections on which teams you think will fill the placings in each race. For full details go to http://www.18footerstv.com/18-promo

Next week we have the biggest 18ft Skiff event on the world calendar when the Australian 18 Footers League will conduct the Winning Group J.J. Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship for 2013.

There will be NO ferry following the Invitation Race next Friday, however there will be a spectator ferry following each of the seven races of the championship (including two ferries for Race 7 on Sunday 24 February).

Dates for the championship races are February 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24. All races (except those on February 16 and 23) will start at 3pm. Races on February 16 and 23 will start at 4pm.

The spectator ferry will depart Double Bay Public Wharf 30 minutes before the scheduled start time of each race.

Frank Quealey
Australian 18 Footers League
http://www.18footers.com.au
http://www.flying18s.com
http://www.18footerstv.com

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Race 5 of the 18 foot skiff Australian Championship

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Australian Championship, Race 5, Sunday, 3 February 2013

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Coopers-Rag & Famish Hotel took out Race 5 of the Australian 18ft Skiff Championship on Sydney Harbour today, but the runner up Gotta Love It 7 became the 2012-2013 National champion in the series.

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The Coopers-Rag & Famish Hotel crew of Jack Macartney, David Witt and Mark Kennedy were superb with their #2 rig in the 20-knot SW-SSW winds to take out the race by 1m14s.

After an early race incident which cost the team many positions, Seve Jarvin, Scott Babbage and Peter Harris recovered strongly to bring Gotta Love It 7 home in second place behind Coopers-Rag & Famish Hotel.

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Last week’s winner Smeg (Nick Press, Dan Phillips and Dave Ewings) finished a further 1m15s back in third place today for an overall second in the championship.

For the defending champion Thurlow Fisher Lawyers, and series leader going into today’s race, it was a disaster as the skiff finished 11th for an overall third place.

Gotta Love It 7’s final total was 8 points, followed by Smeg on 10, Thurlow Fisher Lawyers 11, Coopers-Rag & Famish Hotel 22, Yandoo (John Winning) 29 and The Kitchen Maker (Malcolm Page) 32.

Appliancesonline.com.au (Micah Lane) finished fourth today and would have been fourth overall but withdrew from today’s race because of a pre-race incident, which was going to be the subject of protest.

Thurlow Fisher Lawyers was always near or in the lead over the first lap of the three-lap windward-leeward course.

Coopers-Rag & Famish Hotel was never far from Thurlow Fisher and the pair had a great battle over that first lap.

Coxon and his Thurlow Fisher team, along with Gotta Love It 7, elected to sail the Northern side of the course on the second windward beat and lost out to the Coopers-Rag team which were in mid harbour and better breeze.

This allowed Coopers-Rag & Famish to open up a clean break back at the Clarke Island windward mark and from that point the team were never headed.

Thurlow Fisher Lawyers was still in a good position to retain the title, but a capsize at the bottom mark on the second lap forced the team out of contention on the day and in the championship.

The Kitchen Maker, skippered by Olympic 470 Gold Medalist Malcolm Page, and Lumix (Jonathan Whitty) both had strong performances to finish fifth and six respectively.

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Pure Blonde (Tom Clout) and Mojo Wine (James Dorron) were two other skiffs which performed well on the day and they fought out a close battle right to the finish for seventh and eighth

More photos will be published later on www.18footers.com.au and www.flying18s.com. A video coverage of the race can be seen on www.18footerstv.com

Spectator Ferry photos will also be published on www.18footers.com.au and www.flying18s.com during the coming week.

Don’t forget ‘Pick the Podium’ again this season with prizes to be won by just making some selections on which teams you think will fill the placings in Sunday’s race. For full details go to http://www.18footerstv.com/18-promo

The club’s regular spectator ferry will follow next Sunday’s Race, leaving Double Bay Wharf at 2.15pm.

;

Frank Quealey

Australian 18 Footers League

www.18footers.com.au

www.flying18s.com

www.18footerstv.com

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