New Zealand’s 18’ Skiff Team for the J.J. Giltinan Trophy
by John Little on 12 Feb 2013
Seven NZ skiffs will contest the JJ Giltinan Trophy starting on Saturday in Sydney Richard Gladwell
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Seven New Zealand 18’ skiffs are to take on the J.J. Giltinan Trophy starting this Saturday in Double Bay, Sydney.
The J.J.’s has such prestige that it is known as the unofficial 18’ skiff worlds and is sailed on the Australian based fleet’s home waters. The regatta is contested from the 15-24th of February with an international fleet of 30 boats.
Below is a short rundown on each of the New Zealand teams.
C-tech (Alex Vallings, Pete Burling and Josh McCormack) heads the way for the New Zealand fleet after an impressive 2012, winning the Mark Foy, San Francisco International and the North Sails Auckland Champ. Olympic silver medallist Pete Burling comes in as sheethand for this regatta and will be looking to continue on the team’s solid crew work that was been a hallmark of C-tech’s 2012 season.
Yamaha (David McDiarmid, Andrew Archibald and Mark Overington) has also shown impressive results with a fifth in San Francisco after only a couple of outings in their new boat. Since then the addition of a new No.1 rig and hours on the water training is paying dividends with commanding form shown in last month’s Steinlager Nationals.
Maersk Line (Graham Catley, Woog Dawson and Brad Collins) will be looking forward to a solid regatta after a mixed start to the season while building a new crew combination. Recently they have shown plenty of pace and skill and will no doubt be looking to mix it up near the front of the fleet.
ASCC (Murray England, Rowan Swanson and Matt Randle) is led by the impressive Murray England, who is now in his second season as a helmsman and mentor to all junior sailors. Murray will no doubt put the pressure on his new crew combination for the regatta to mix it up the front of the fleet and minimise those hairy situations.
Events Clothing (Riley Dean, John Little and Scott Randle) showed good form in last month’s Steinlager Nationals. With new bowman Scott Randle and a new No.1 rig the team will be looking to carry this on in Sydney.
Uploaded : 489 KBBridge Marina Travelift (Kez Cameron, Adrian France and Steve Jones) have been running a two boat program of late and are ready to improve on their 2012 JJ’s result. The team competed in the tough conditions of San Francisco last year and now have the experience in the bigger fleets to climb higher up the leader board.
For Yamaha White (Sam Marshall, Tom Peet and Ben Gladwell), who are in their rookie year, this will be their first international regatta as a team. Helmsman Sam Marshall is no stranger to skiff racing and will no doubt push hard and challenge some of the more seasoned teams.
Many thanks to Maersk Line for getting the boats there and to Tour de Fizz Ltd for organising accommodation and off-the-water details.
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