Beautiful week sail 18 foot skiffs with a couple of top blokes and a great bunch of people on tour.
Fantastic venue, will have to race here again.
Thanks to Alessandra, President of the Race Committee for filming the finish to the last race.
18ft Skiffs: NSW Championship, Race 1
Sunday, 10 November 2013, Sydney Harbour
Very enjoyable sail for the first championship race of the season. A good strong SouthEasterly and cloudy enough for there not to be too much traffic.
See the results sheet here: 18s_Pointscore 10 Nov
See the video at www.18footerstv.com
See Frank Quealey’s photos for the idea:
Frank publishes more photos on www.18footers.com.au
Video coverage of the race can be seen on www.18footerstv.com
The club’s regular spectator ferry will follow next Sunday’s Race 5 of the 3-Buoys Challenge, leaving Double Bay Wharf at 2.15pm.
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
Good breeze kicked in for a big rig race today. .
New Velocitek ProStart might have had a little data spike tho
And a few fireworks at anchor to cap it off.
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
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
Sailing in the Australian Historical 18 Foot Skiff Championships at The Sydney Flying Squadron.
18ft Skiffs
Australian Championship, Race 3
Sunday, 26 January 2013
Sydney Harbour
With North East winds in excess of 20-knots, today’s Race 3 of the Australian 18ft Skiff Championship became a battle of survival as only seven teams managed to complete the course on Sydney Harbour.
Smeg, skippered by four times Interdominion 12ft Skiff champion Nick Press, and his talented crew of Dan Phillips and Dave Ewings, mastered the conditions to score a 1m7s win from Coopers-Rag & Famish Hotel (Jack Macartney, David Witt and Mark Kennedy).
Defending champion and series leader, Thurlow Fisher Lawyers was a further 3m38s back in third place, ahead of Gotta Love It 7 (Seve Jarvin), Yandoo (John Winning) and De’Longhi-Rabbitohs (Simon Nearn).
Thurlow Fisher Lawyers (5 points, net3) holds a narrow lead over Gotta Love It 7 (8 points, net 4). Coopers-Rag & Famish Hotel has a total of 13 points, but her discard of 8 leaves a net 5 and a real chance for the title
Today’s winner, Smeg is also still a good chance with a net score of six points.
Smeg trailed Lumix (Jonathan Whitty) at the first windward mark but once she hit the lead downwind was never headed over the rest of the course.
Many competitors either failed to reach the start line or were forced to retire with gear failure.
Both Thurlow Fisher and Gotta Love It 7 had ‘swims’.
Brisbane’s Winning Appliances (Shane Smith) came to Sydney for the weekend and her crew showed their skills with a fifth over the line.
Press was happy with the win and said the biggest problem his team had was the spectator craft on the harbour for the Australia Day celebrations.
When as whether they had any capsizes, for’ard hand Dave Ewings quipped: “No way. It would have been too much like hard work to get up again if we did”
Race 4 of the championship will be sailed tomorrow, with the last race next Sunday.
Frank Quealey
Australian 18 Footers League
http://www.18footers.com.au
Nice ride on the TKM 18 with Will Phillips and Darren McKavanaugh. Cracked 24.8 knots before the top spreader cracked off and we retired from the race.
Thanks to Will for flying up from Geelong for the weekend and as usual, Darren, for asking the question.
Spreader is back on the mast ready for another fast ride today.
18ft Skiffs
NSW Championship, Race 2
Sunday, 16 December 2012
Sydney Harbour
Today’s 18ft Skiff race on Sydney Harbour was both Race 2 of the NSW Championship as well as the concluding race (brought about by last week’s postponed race) of the AEG 3-Buoys Challenge series.
Provisional results at this time have Lumix (Jonathan Whitty, James Hozack, Aron Everett) as winner of Race 2 in the NSW title, Fisher & Paykel (Gary Phillips, Ewan Duckworth and Tim Baraclough), winner of Race 8 of the AEG 3-Buoys Challenge and Pure Blonde (Tom Clout, Rob Bell and Matt Wark) the overall winner of the 3-Buoys Challenge.
Aside from the provisional results, the rest of the day was something to rember as we were treated to the most unusual finish anyone could remember.
While the day in Sydney started out with brilliant sunshine and a nice Nor’Easter, things deteriorated to a point where the race was delayed due to a lack of wind.
The fleet finally got away in a light Nor’Easter but a variety of wind pressures and directions kept all teams on their toes over the first two laps of the course.
Just when things looked normal and reigning Giltinan champion Gotta Love It 7 (Seve Jarvin, Scott Babbage and Peter Harris) held a 1m50s at the final windward mark, nobody could have foreseen what was still to come.
As the champion Gotta Love It 7 team raced under spinnaker to the wind mark off Shark Island, the wind dropped while the rest of the fleet came down to join ‘7’, which was ‘parked’ near the buoy.
With just the final short spinnaker run to the finish off Double Bay, there were 10 boats all in a single line.
Lumix, featuring a radical new wing mast, and Mojo Wine (James Dorron, Ricky Bridges and Mike McKensey) were the first to pick up the new breeze and resulted in Lumix taking the honours by 18s.
Third place went to Yandoo (John Winning, Andrew Hay and Jim Beck), which finished a further 11s back.
These placing are provisional as the Appliancesonline.com.au team have lodged a protest against the winner over an incident at the critical final wing mark.
Early in the race, Coopers-Rag & Famish Hotel (Jack Macartney), Appliancesonline.com.au (Micah Lane), Mojo Wine and Gotta Love It 7 staged a tough battle to the first windward mark.
AOL and ‘7’ went around together, closely followed (5s) by The Rag, with Mojo another 10s back in fourth place.
The breeze had a lot of north in direction and all teams were forced to gybe a number of times to reach the wing mark.
Gotta Love It 7 had edged slightly away from AOL and Coopers-Rag & Famish Hotel, while Australian champion Thurlow Fisher Lawyers (Michael Coxon) had time to be in fouth position.
A slightly fresher breeze settled in over the next lap and Gotta Love It 7 increased her lead from AOL and Yandoo.
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
Spectator Ferry photos will also be published on http://www.18footers.com.au and http://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
There will now be a three weeks break from racing. The season will resume on 13 January with Race 1 of the Australian Championship.
The club’s regular spectator ferry will follow each race, leaving Double Bay Wharf at 2.15pm.
Frank Quealey
Australian 18 Footers League
http://www.18footers.com.au
http://www.flying18s.com
http://www.18footerstv.com
Allwood Sailing 