The Rag leads at the halfway mark
The Rag & Famish Hotel team of Harry Price, Max Paul and Finn Rodowicz is currently dominating the Australian 18 Footers League fleet after the first three weeks racing and leads both the 2024-25 season Sixt Spring Championship and Club Championship series being sailed on Sydney Harbour.
The Rag team has won both Club Championship races and Race 1 of the three Sixt Spring Championship series and has already set a high standard for the international opposition that will contest the JJ Giltinan Championship in March.
Crew work on Rag & Famish Hotel has been excellent in some testing conditions, but it will have to be at its best in next Sunday’s Race 4, when it gives starts of up to ten minutes to the rest of the fleet, as a result of their success so far.
Vaikobi (Kirk Mitchell, Andrew Stephenson, Daniel Barnettr), the closest challenger to the series leader, has been a model of consistency highlighted by a win in the 3-buoys Race 2 but will also have to be at her best from a one minutes handicap.
The third-placed Balmain (Henry Larkings, Tom Grimes, Flynn Twomey) is another consistent performer in the three weeks of racing to date, and will be a strong force from a handicap of four minutes on Sunday.
Two others to watch from ‘favourable’ handicaps are Lazarus (Tom Cunich) off six minutes and Finport Finance (Keagan York) from three minutes. Both teams have been performing well but have had a couple of costly incidents, which have affected their points total in the series.
Last Sunday’s winner of Race 3 of the Sixt Spring Championship, The Kitchen Maker (Lachlan Steel) has been penalised under the racing conditions of the series but the team has been sailing well in the new boat, which has only been in the water for one month.
Burrawang-Young Henrys (Simon Nearn), Smeg (Nathan McNamara) and Sixt (Jacob Marks) should also be prominent from their relative handicaps on Sunday.
Leading scores in the Sixt Spring Championship are:
9 Rag & Famish Hotel (Harry Price)
11 Vaikobi (Kirk Mitchell)
13 Balmain (Henry Larkings)
17 The Kitchen Maker (Lachlan Steel)
19 Burrawang-Young Henrys (Simon Nearn)
20 Sixt (Jacob Marks)
25 Yandoo (John Winning)
26 Smeg (Nathan McNamara)
33 Lazarus (Tom Cunich)
33 Shaw and Partners (Emma Rankin)
The previous 3-buoys race, won by Vaikobi two weeks ago, produced the best race of the season so far with the positions changing continually throughout the entire fleet.
Sunday’s 3-buoys race will be another must-watch race and everyone should take the opportunity to go out onto the race track and watch the action aboard the club’s spectator ferry, which leaves Double Bay Public Wharf at 2pm.
SailMedia’s Livestreaming is also available on: https://youtube.com/live/
Frank Quealey
Australian 18 Footers League Ltd.