JJ Giltinan 18ft - Kiwi Champion the subject of two protests in Sydney

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com NZ on 3 Mar 2017 Overall series leader Yamaha will have her position put on the line in a series of protest hearings Friday morning in Sydney.

She faces two claims - both from Appliancesonline (David Witt).

The first is an attempt to re-open the Hearing held on Wednesday morning after Yamaha was suffered damage in Race 3 as a result of a collision with a give way yacht, and Yamaha received redress of average points for the incident.

On Wednesday in Race 4, there was an incident at the windward mark at the end of the first beat between Appliancesonline and Yamaha NZ, with a third yacht Maersk (NZ), with Appliancesonline claiming they had contact with Yamaha soon after the New Zealand champion tacked to round the mark (see video below).



Despite finishing 19th in yesterday's race sailed in light to moderate conditions with big No. 1 rigs, Yamaha is listed as still being the overall series leader - largely by virtue of her back to back wins in the first two races of the JJ Giltinan 18fter Skiff Championship.

The application of the average points system drops her 19th from Race 5, but the real effect on the points table won't be felt until the final two races, as several of the top group on points before Race 5 had less than flattering placings in Thursday's fifth race.

The most prestigious skiff and dinghy regatta in the Southern Hemisphere will go down to the wire over the final two days with at least six boats able to win the JJ Giltinan Trophy.

That group includes two New Zealand boats who will be trying to lift the trophy for the first time on Sydney Harbour and break a 43 year drought beginning with the last win by a New Zealand crew in 1974 in Auckland.

Difficult conditions test crews
Thursday's racing was conducted a 10kt easterly breeze from Sydney Heads, with big shifts and a strong ebb tide.

'It was a hard day to be sailing a skiff,' recalled Yamaha NZ skipper David McDiarmid.

'Every puff we got felt like the boat was loading up, but we could never get going, and then the puff was gone. We could never get the speed on - there was a lot of in and out on the wires.

'In the first start, which had a General Recall, we were positioned well but really struggled to hold our line,' 'Had the race continued we would have been in trouble.'

'In the second start, the same thing happened again. We weren't aggressive enough in pushing for the pin end, and just got a middle of the road start trying to get cleanly away from the start line.

'We had to tack away and then got involved in a claimed port and starboard incident, which was bulls**t, but we did penalty turns to exonerate ourselves in case there was a later protest, and dropped to the back of the fleet where we stayed for the rest of the race.'

'It wasn't a soldiers course, but there were no real reaching legs and no gains that could be made, and we just lost too much time which we couldn't get back.'

'It took us three laps to get going to full speed. To be honest, we just haven't sailed enough races with the No 1 rig and have really battled,' added the current New Zealand and 2016 Triple Crown Champion.

'We felt we were very slow yesterday but managed to get a fifth - which in hindsight was a very good result. Today we finished fifth to last!'

'If we get through our protests OK, we will go into the final two races in the weekend as the series leader, and the forecast is for more breeze.'

More breeze for final two races
If that forecast eventuates the Yamaha should be back on their No. 2 rig which has yielded two race wins in this JJ Giltinan series and two wins in the last two races of the 2016 regatta - pulling her to within a single point of taking the trophy.

'We are still in good shape, but have to sail well.'

'The last three days have been a real battle for us, somehow we have scraped through it.'

'So it is all on for the last two races this weekend.'

Of the other New Zealand boats, Maersk had a pre-start collision with another boat breaking a chicken-wire. Riley Dean in Frank Knight got a good start and was in the top five but placed ninth - which for most of the fleet would be a counting place at the end of the series.

C-Tech finished fourth. 'We changed places with him today,' said McDiarmid ruefully. 'He had the same trouble as us yesterday - just couldn't get his boat moving, changed nothing overnight - and went out goth fourth place!'

'It all comes down to the three dudes in the boat,' he added.

For the rest of the series, McDiarmid says Yamaha will be looking to start more aggressively and will be looking for an increase wind strength - which on the basis of the forecast will test the crews not so much on its top end strength but in its variability in strength as both races progress.