Strong winds sweeping across Sydney Harbour forced race officials to reduce today’s racing program in the 2022 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship from the scheduled two races, to one race, sailed over a specially designed storm course.
As the strength of the winds eased, the race got away in a 20-knot SSW wind and there was non-stop action throughout.
Once again, it was the strong Andoo team of Seve Jarvin, Matt Stenta and Sam Newton which proved to be the master of the conditions to record its third consecutive win from the three races sailed so far and leads the championship with a perfect score of three points.
Tech2 (Jack Macartney, Charlie Wyatt and Lewis Brake) also continued her consistency with three consecutive second placings behind Andoo, and only trails by three points in the overall standings.
In today’s race, Andoo grabbed the lead after the early leaders capsized and raced away to win by 3m15s from Tech2 with Rag & Famish Hotel (Harry Price, Josh McKnight and Harry Hall) a further 3m5s back in third place.
Fisher & Paykel (Jordan Girdis) finished strongly over the final two legs of the course to come home in fourth place, ahead of Yandoo (John Winning) and Queensland’s C-Tech (Dave Hayter).
Andoo has a score of 3 points, followed by Tech2 on 6 points, Rag & Famish Hotel on 12, Yandoo and Lazarus Capital Partners (Marcus Ashley-Jones) both on 23 and The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines (Aron Everett) and Fisher & Paykel both on 28 points.
Sean Langman’s Noakesailing led the fleet at the windward mark in Rushcutters Bay closely followed by Andoo, Tech2, and Smeg (Michael Coxon).
Noakesailing and Tech2 showed great speed and opened up a break over the fleet but both capsized as they gybed into Chowder Bay, leaving Andoo with the lead, a lead which the team maintained throughout the course.
Andoo quickly opened up a break over Rag & Famish Hotel and Finport Finance (Keagan York) on the windward leg across the harbour to Rose Bay, then went further ahead after the two-sail reach back from Rose Bay to the bottom mark in Athol Bay.
The Rag and Finport Finance continued their battle behind the leader while Yandoo and Tech2 were beginning to move closer.
A bunch of skiffs including Balmain Slake (Henry Larkings),Fisher & Paykel, Black Swan (Luke Parkinson), The Oak, Noakes Youth (Tom Cunich), C-Tech and the German Black Knight team (Heinrich Von Bayern).
Andoo continued to dominate over the second lap of the course and scored a clear victory but it may have been a very interesting race for the win had Tech2 not capsized at the Chowder Bay mark.
The strong performance by the Fisher & Paykel team enabled it to take out the handicap section of the race.
Today’s result sheet, and photos from the racing, are attached.
Scheduled races and re-sail of any abandoned races will be sailed over the next four days:
March 10, 11, 12 and 13
THERE WILL BE A SPECTATOR FERRY ON FRIDAY – BOOK ONLINE
Spectators can follow the racing on board the spectator ferry. Booking online through the club’s website www.18footers.com is
https://www.18footers.com.au/
Frank Quealey
Australian 18 Footers League Ltd.