Riley Marine draws first blood at 16ft Skiff Nats

by Di Pearson on 13 Jan 2007 Current NSW 16ft skiff champion skipper Jack Andrew steered Riley Marine Fittings to a win from the Lee Knapton steered Bob Jane T Marts Edgecliff in the first race of their Australian Championship sailed on Corio Bay in Geelong today.

Andrew, with crew Keagan York and Andrew Finnie didn’t have it all there own way, with the lead swapping a number of times throughout the day on the trapezoid at the Sail Melbourne event hosted by Royal Geelong Yacht Club.

According to crew member York, 'we put it in the tide going to the first mark the first time. We were furthest left going up the beat and we thought we were in trouble, but we started to lift and lift…'

For Knapton, who is crewed by Peter Hubble and Dean Williams, second was good enough – for today. 'The race was exciting, the lead swapped a lot – it was blowing around 25 knots out there and there were massive shifts.'

Knapton, from Middle Harbour in Sydney, says that the next three place getters, Andy Divola/James Bury/Rob Napper (Fire Stopping), Alan Cummings/Danny Anderson/Sean Harrison (OAS) and Fluid Building Services (Clint Bowen/Steve Bowen/Anthony King), along with today’s winner 'are the pick of the bunch' when it comes down to who may win the event.

And the racing on Day 1 was close. 'Those five are always nice and close – there’s not much in it. We had big shifts on the course, you really had to pay attention big time,' the 29 year-old commented.

However, the others agree that Knapton, who with his veteran forward hand of eight years has won two previous titles, is up there in the money. 'He’s won two with me, but he’s going for his seventh title all up, so it would be nice to win this,' said Knapton, whose sheethand Dean Williams only joined the crew recently.

For another veteran, Sheads First National skipper Peter Sorensen, it was not the best of days.

'We had the lead a couple of times and lost it, then we broke our tackline and we retired, which is disappointing. But,' the Sydney solicitor said, 'I think my boat can do it, it’s brand new and it feels good – we’ll see tomorrow.'

Sorensen’s wife Marilyn, skippering Sheads First National II, finished 27th from 37 entries, while four other boats apart from her husbands did not finish the race, including Big Saturday (Chris Jones), Bob (Drew Spring), Hazard (Alexandra Deakin) and KOFM 102.9 (Adam Gillson).

In the 11-boat 13ft skiff class today, Daniel Turner/Daniel Ambler (Typhoon T-Shirts) scored victory from James Dorron/Jay Marla (Fire Stopping) and Richard and Tim Plain (Sheads First National). Ironically, Turner and Dorron’s brothers Joe Turner/Charles Dorron sailed their 49er into third place at Sail Melbourne 2005.

A race each is planned for the 13s and 16s tomorrow, starting from 3.00pm and 3.10pm respectively, while the 14ft skiffs will sail the first race of their National Championship tomorrow also, starting from 1.00pm.

16ft Skiff Class ET provisional results

Place	Boat Name	From	Elapsd	Skipper	Score	Fin Tim
1	RILEY MARINE FITTING	Georges Rvr	01:36:51	Jack Andrew	1.0	16:53:51
2	BOB JANE T-MARTS EDG	Mid Harbr	01:38:14	Lee Knapton	2.0	16:55:14
3	FIRE STOPPING	Manly	01:39:14	Andrew Divola	3.0	16:56:14
4	OAS	Belmont	01:39:49	Alan Cummings	4.0	16:56:49
5	FLUID BUILDING SERVI	Manly	01:40:05	Clint Bowen	5.0	16:57:05
6	R W RETAIL	RQYS	01:40:21	Daniel Jack	6.0	16:57:21
7	TUDOR	Belmont	01:41:41	Robert Flanagan	7.0	16:58:41
8	Y B FLAT	Belmont	01:41:45	Gary Bruniges	8.0	16:58:45
9	SAVAGE BEE	Manly	01:42:38	Bruce Savage	9.0	16:59:38
10	R.A.M	Manly	01:43:43	Chris Thomas	10.0	17:00:43
11	TYPHOON	Manly	01:43:56	Craig Nicholls	11.0	17:00:56
12	BRYDENS LAW OFFICE	Georges Rvr	01:43:58	Jamie Roberts	12.0	17:00:58
13	M & J CHICKENS	Belmont	01:44:03	Graham Mckellar	13.0	17:01:03
14	CONTOUR BUILDING & C	Belmont	01:44:03	Ben Bruniges	14.0	17:01:03
15	NETKIOSK	Belmont	01:44:04	Gavin Cooke	15.0	17:01:04
16	DATA # 3	RQYS	01:45:17	Brad Colledge	16.0	17:02:17
17	HUNTER GAMING	Belmont	01:45:45	Matt Waters	17.0	17:02:45
18	ENERGY AUSTRALIA	Manly	01:45:59	Patrick Levy	18.0	17:02:59
19	RONSTAN	Manly	01:46:22	Gerard Smith	19.0	17:03:22
20	COUGAR BOURBON	Belmont	01:48:17	Craig Corke	20.0	17:05:17
21	INTEGRATOS	Belmont	01:48:38	Rod Hozack	21.0	17:05:38
22	ILLAWARRA GEAR AND D	Illawara YC	01:49:04	Paul Linnett	22.0	17:06:04
23	JLE ELECTRICAL	Belmont	01:49:30	Julian Lydement	23.0	17:06:30
24	THE HERALD	Belmont	01:50:14	Kieran Humphries	24.0	17:07:14
25	CARLTON DRAUGHT	Belmont	01:50:56	Dale Cummings	25.0	17:07:56
26	INFINITE PROPERTY SO	Georges Rvr	01:52:17	Bruce Gault	26.0	17:09:17
27	SHEADS 1ST NAT II	Mid Harbr	01:52:36	Marilyn Sorensen	27.0	17:09:36
28	SIMPLY AVIATION	Manly	01:53:09	Clare Hozack	28.0	17:10:09
29	TOM AND FRANKS	Belmont	01:53:34	Ian Henderson	29.0	17:10:34
30	JOHN ROMANOUS CONSUL	Belmont	01:53:50	Ian Heritage	30.0	17:10:50
31	CAPITAL RESULTS	Mid Harbr	01:54:27	Amahl Haradsa	31.0	17:11:27
32	GIRO CONSTRUCTIONS	Mid Harbr	01:55:11	Adam Favaloro	32.0	17:12:11
DNC	OLIVER HIRE	Mid Harbr		Matt Bassett	41.0
DNC	OPORTO	Mid Harbr		G. Crosely	41.0
DNC	ALTIS CONSULTING	Manly		Phillip Cooke	41.0
DNF	BIG SATURDAY	Mid Harbr		Chris Jones	41.0
DNF	BOB	Mid Harbr		Drew Spring	41.0
DNF	HAZARD	Mid Harbr		Alexandra Deakin	41.0
DNF	KOFM 102.9	Belmont		Adam Gillson	41.0
DNF	SHEADS 1ST NAT	Mid Harbr		Peter Sorensen	41.0

Full results for othe skiff classes at www.sail-melbourne.com