Winning shows how it's done, leads Hamlin by point

by Rich Roberts on 24 Aug 2006 Howard Hamlin hit the beach with the adrenalin still running and a grin as wide as the Golden Gate at the end of Day 2 of the 18' Skiff International Regatta Wednesday.

'Fantastic!' he yelled. 'Thirty knots [of breeze]. That's why we do it. That was fun!'

Easy for him to say. He's won here on these wild and crazy boats, as has Australia's John Winning, who took over first place while swapping 1-2 finishes with Hamlin while the first-day leader, 17-year-old Samuel (Shark) Kahn, capsized twice with a 3-5 score line to sit four points off the pace.

Even a local, Ben Glass of Patrick Whitmarsh's Vodka Cruiser crew, said, 'It was mean out there, even for the Bay.'

Crewmate Mark Breen added, 'It's a fun ride, though, for sure.'

Winning and others said the wind blew a bit harder than it had Tuesday---officially, 18 to 22 knots with puffs to 24---and compared it to a notorious area of his home waters between southeast Australia and the island of Tasmania.

'You come around that leeward mark and it's like Bass Strait,' Winning said---which is why he, like Hamlin, sailed most of the second race throttled back with only two of the three crew members hiked out on trapeze wires. No high-wire acts for the leaders.

'We often do that,' Winning said. 'As long as there's plenty of breeze it's probably not any slower and certainly safer, especially if you come into grief.'

Winning is still the only competitor that hasn't capsized.

Australia's Grant Rollerson said, 'We're still three on the wire, but we're very slow upwind.'

For Peter Burton of the United Kingdom it's a new thrill. He recovered from a disastrous Tuesday with a 5-4 Wednesday and six races remaining to make some success of the week.

'Frankly, it can be quite scary on San Francisco Bay,' Burton said. 'We're going to go home and tell all our chums about it and bring them back in numbers.'

Then Burton reached for the pocket-size GPS he had taped to the transom to check his top speed of the day.

'Twenty-two-point-nine knots,' he announced, 'and that was [downwind] against the ebb tide on bouncy water.'

Burton's performance is noteworthy because he and crew Martin Borrett and Ian Turnbull are sailing Hamlin's five-year-old former boat, which still has the West Marine sail but is now sponsored by the British firm of Barron and Smithers. It also has a heavier aluminum mast, while everyone also has carbon rigs.

It's also interesting to note that Winning, Hamlin, Rollerson and Burton currently stand first, second, fourth and fifth, approximately where they finished in the European Championship in June, although Hamlin win with Winning second.

The trailing teams also have a chance to close the gap after Thursday's first race when the first discard enters the scoring. The second kicks in after nine races.

This is one of the class's three major events each year, along with the JJ Giltinan World Trophy Championship in Sydney and the European champion held last June on Lake Garda in Italy.

The schedule calls for 10 races over five days starting after 1 p.m., three times around a 1 ½-mile windward-leeward course set for ideal spectator viewing from just inside the Golden Gate Bridge past the Crissy Field staging area and the host St. Francis Yacht Club. The exception will be a later start Friday followed by the annual Bridge to Bridge race when the 18s will mix it up with kite boards and windsurfers.


STANDINGS (after 4 of 10 races):

1. Yandoo, John Winning/Andrew Hay/'Geoff Bauchop, Sydney, Aust., Australian 18 Footers League, 3-1-1-2, 7 points.

2. Pegasus White, Howard Hamlin/Mike Martin/Trent Barnabas, Long Beach, Calif., Newport Harbor YC, 2-3-2-1, 8.

3. Pegasus Black, Samuel (Shark) Kahn/Cameron MacDonald/Paul Allen, Honolulu, Waikiki YC, 1-2-3-5, 11.

4. DeLonghi, Grant Rollerson/Simon Nearn/Dan Wilsdon, Sydney, Australian 18 Footers League, DNF/8-DNS/8-4-3, 23.

5. West Marine, Peter Barton/Martin Borrett/Ian Turnbull, United Kingdom, Royal Lymington YC, DNF/8-DNS/8-5-4, 25.

6. Skiff Sailing Foundation White, Chad Freitas/Dan Malpas/Matt Noble, San Francisco, St. Francis YC, DNF/8-4-6-6, 26.

7. Vodka Cruiser, Patrick Whitmarsh/Mark Breen/Ben Glass, Alameda, Calif., Monterey Peninsula YC, DNF/8-DNS/8-7-DNF/8, 31.

Complete results and photos: www.stfyc.com (click successively on Regatta Information ... 2006 Racing Calendar ... August)