German cycling great gets to ride in 16ft skiffs

by Michael Chittenden on 25 Mar 2017 Jens Voight has twice won stages of the Tour de France and once held the world record time for distance ridden in an hour, but nothing prepared him for jumping on a 16ft skiff last Saturday.

Voight was a guest aboard leading Manly skiff Fluid Building after accepting an invite from skipper Clint Bowen.

Bowen, a keen amateur cyclist, and Voight have struck up a friendship after riding together in the annual Tour de Cure cycle fundraiser.

The German was nervous about swapping two wheels for the saltwater but soon found his sea legs.

'The two things he was most worried about were sharks and seasickness,' Bowen said.

'I told him we'd be going too fast to worry about seasickness and that he's too skinny for a shark to worry about.

'He started off a bit wobbly but his natural athleticism and balance saw him out on the trapeze with no problem by the end.

'He is welcome back any time he likes.'

Voight's guest appearance came after Fluid took out Manly's 16th pointscore of the race of the season.

Operating off a handicap start, Fluid worked their way the fleet to gradually pull away in the challenging 15-20 knot breeze.

Newly-minted club champion Fire Stopping (Joe Turner) gave chase but never looked like reeling in the race leader.

Fluid's winning margin of just under two minutes emphasised their dominance, with Fire Stopping second and Sutech (Daniel Turner).

Handicap honours last Saturday went to Glorious Leader (Daryl Milham), who led from start to finish, from The Yellow Boat (Michael Bochner) and CHPS (Evan Darmanin).

'It's a shame the season is coming to an end because we've really hit our straps in the last month or so,' Bowen said.

'While we didn’t win any major silverware, we made pretty good progress and set a good platform for next season.'