Winds were so strong that every team had problems during the two windward-return races staged in Rose Bay.
The strong Smeg team of Michael Coxon, Ricky Bridge and Mike McKensey handled the conditions brilliantly while many others around them floundered or capsized.
After trailing Bing Lee (Micah Lane) at the windward mark early in the race, Smeg’s downwind speed enabled her to grab the lead and the skiff was not headed over the rest of the course.
At the end of the three laps, Smeg crossed the finish line 1m58s ahead of second placed The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines (Aron Everett, Tom Clout, Reece Goldsmith), with Appliancesonline.com.au (Brett Van Munster, Phil Marshall, Kurt Fatouris0 another 35s back in third place.
Winning Group (John Winning Jr) was an impressive fourth after recovering from an earlier capsize, followed by Vintec (Kirk Mitchell) and Bing Lee.
NOTE:
The Australian 18ft Skiff Championship will continue on the following dates;
Sundays February 3, February 10, February 17.
For those who can’t make it onto the water:
Live streaming is available on 18FootersTV
https://18Footers.com/18-footers-sailing/18-footers-tv/
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The JJ Giltinan Championship will be sailed on Sydney Harbour from March 2-10.