Race Sponsor: Lazarus Capital Partners
Sunday, 26 February, 2023
Sydney Harbour
The Andoo team of John Winning Jr, Seve Jarvin and Sam Newton became the Australian 18 Footers League 2022-23 club champions despite Seve and Sam being unable to contest Race 15 (the last race) of the Club Championship with John Jr on Sydney Harbour today.
The team will now go into the Winning Group 73rd JJ Giltinan World 18 footer Championship as likely favourites to retain the title the skiff won last year, but the vastly improved form of the Rag & Famish Hotel team is beginning to pose a major challenge
In today’s race, which was sailed in a fluctuating North-East wind breeze, Rag & Famish Hotel (Harry Price Josh McKnight and Harry Hall) showed impressive form to defeat Yandoo (John Winning, Fang Warren and Josh Porebski) by 1m40s with early race leader Big Pete (Sean Langman, Ed Powys and Rhys Mara) a further 9s back in third place.
Smeg (Michael Coxon) finished in fourth place, followed by Australian champion Finport Finance (Keagan York) and Andoo (John Winning Jr)
Final pointcores in the 2022-23 club championship are: Andoo on 49 points, followed by Yandoo on 56, Smeg 58, Rag & Famish Hotel 74, Lazarus (Marcus Ashley-Jones) 76 and Shaw and Partners Financial Services (Jim Colley/Dave O’Connor) on 99.
After spending most of the summer months in New Zealand, the Big Pete returned to Sydney Harbour and showed good speed to lead by less than 10s at the top mark from Rag & Famish Hotel and Finport Finance, which were close together.
Yandoo was in fourth place, close behind the three leaders, just ahead of Smeg.
On the spinnaker run to the wing mark off the southern end of Shark Island, Big Pete maintained her lead but The Rag was starting to put the pressure on as the pair completed the following spinnaker leg to Clark Island, where the two teams rounded the mark together.
From that point, Rag & Famish Hotel edged ahead of Big Pete then Finport Finance also began to make a move and was soon in second place at the top mark on the second lap of the course.
Yandoo was also making a move and had relegated Big Pete back into fourth place.
At the bottom mark of the second lap, Rag & Famish Hotel had raced away to a 1m30s over Finport Finance, followed by Yandoo and Big Pete but the race was all but over as The Rag had little trouble scoring her impressive victory.
Finport Finance was still in second place at the final top mark, and had reduced The Rag’s lead to 1m, but a downwind sent Finport back to finish in fifth place.
The Season Point Score section of today’s race resulted in a win for Burrawang-Young Henrys (Simon Nearn) from The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines (Alex Marinelli).
With just one more race to determine the winner of the Season Point Score series (to be sailed in conjunction with the Queen of the Harbour race on March 19, Burrawang-Young Henrys leads the competition on 113 points, followed by The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines on 119.5, Yandoo on 125, Smeg 140, Lazarus 143 and Andoo on 151.
Today’s result sheet, final points table and images from today’s race, are attached.
NOTE: The Winning Group 73rd JJ Giltinan World 18 footer Championship will be sailed on Sydney Harbour from March 4-12. The Race dates are:
Saturday March 4 Race 1
Sunday March 5 Race 2
Tuesday March 7 Races 3 & 4
Wednesday March 8 Races 5 & 6
Thursday March 9 Race 7
Saturday March 11 Race 8
Sunday March 12 Race 9
An Australian 18 Footers League spectator ferry will follow the racing on each of the seven days, leaving Double Bay Public Wharf, alongside the clubhouse, at 2pm.
For anyone who can’t make it out onto the water, the League’s live broadcast team will be out on Sydney Harbour to capture all the action. Live streaming is available at www.18footers.com
by clicking on the ’18 Footers TV’ link.
For all the club’s racing and up-to-date news:
Club Website www.18footers.com
Twitter @18skiff
Instagram @18skiff
Facebook International 18ft Skiff
Frank Quealey
Australian 18 Footers League Ltd.