The 12ft skiffs have commenced racing at Woollahra Sailing Club in Sydney's eastern suburbs, and have had two weekends of testing out their new harbour courses.
The first weekend saw a small fleet of boats on display for the inaugural race. The breeze was out of the northeast, and saw the boats put on a relatively familiar long course. Lincoln Crowne (Jonathon Temple) won the day's race from Cunning Stunts (Lachie Paramor) and Garde (Brett Hobson).
Hey Charger (Nick Bernard) had a stellar first work to round the top mark in first place, and was closely followed by the bunched fleet.
However, Hey Charger would suffer spinnaker rigging issues and be forced to capsize to rectify them. They were never able to recover and consequently dropped out of contention.
The faltering Hey Charge allowed Lincoln Crowne to take over the lead, a lead which they never surrendered, and continue on to record the first 12ft skiff win at Woollahra.
The battle for second continued between Cunning Stunts and Garde for most of the race, and saw several position changes. However Cunning stunts got the better of the last spinnaker run to take second place, with Garde coming home third.
Maersk Line picked up fourth with Hey Charger coming home fifth, after Thistle Hill Wines suffered spinnaker pole damage and were unable to finish.
The following weekends race was held in a light Southeast breeze, allowing another long course to be tested.
Lincoln Crowne jumped to an early lead and looked set to make it two wins from two starts, and when Garde capsized at the first bottom mark, the deal looked sealed.
However, the next top mark rounding was tucked up under Point Piper. The shifting breeze allowed Garde to catch Lincoln on the approach to the mark, and overtake them soon after rounding.
Garde held the lead, though things got a little closer on the approach to the finish, Garde forced to close cover Lincoln before crossing the line only a few seconds ahead.
Maersk picked up third place, with www.skiff.org.au fourth and Geotherm fifth. Barking Mad was an early retirement with a broken spreader.
The 12ft skiffs will continue to race on Sundays at Woollahra Sailing Club, and with two interclub events scheduled (Garde Sprint Series 28th February and Port Jackson Championship 21st March) there promises to be some great racing for the remainder of the season.
The fleet is expected to be bolstered in the coming weeks by the returning Aussie skiffs from across the Tasman, after the recent interdominion championships in Auckland.
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