Savage Bee stings 16ft skiffs - Sail Melbourne

by Di Pearson on 15 Jan 2007 Bruce Savage and his crew on Savage Bee notched up their first win of the 16ft National Championship at Sail Melbourne today, after staving off a late challenge by the Lee Knapton skippered Bob Jane T Marts Edgecliff.

Savage Bee’s (Bruce Savage/Greg Windust/Damon Zamanek) win lifts the Manly NSW trio up into fourth place on the scoreboard at the International Skiff Regatta, but none of the crews have been able to shake the well-sailed Riley Marine Fittings (Jack Andrew/Keagan York/Andrew Finnie) which came home third today to consolidate their lead of the series.

'We thought we’d have a comfortable win, but then Bob Janes took a flyer to the right and nearly got us on the way home – we only beat them by a couple of seconds,' Savage said this afternoon. In fact, it was eight seconds.

'It was lighter today – very nice. We used our big rig. We’re very happy. This is our first win in a States or Nationals as a crew. We always knew we had it in us. We’ve been up near the front before but couldn’t quite get it right in the end,' Savage said.

Responding to Savage’s comments, Bob Jane T Marts Edgecliff skipper Lee Knapton said: 'We had a fantastic last work. We went hard right – we hit the bricks and tacked and moved up from around eighth to second. We listened to some locals and it paid off. We’d been around eighth for the whole race. Knapton’s Middle Harbour Sydney crew are Peter Hubble and Dean Williams.

The three’s result today has lifted them into third place overall on countback for the series, with Fluid Building Services (Clint and Steve Bowen and Anthony King) in second on equal points in what is shaping up to be a tight series.

The 16’s enjoyed 10-15 knot sou-westerly winds today and have a lay day tomorrow, before resuming racing at the Sail Melbourne event on Wednesday.

Results:

Series Results [Class ET] for 16ft Skiff up to Race 3 (Drops = 0)

Place	Ties	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		RILEY MARINE FITTING	Jack Andrew	Georges Rvr	7.00	3.00	3.00	1.00
2	1.0S	FLUID BUILDING SERVI	Clint Bowen	Manly	14.00	8.00	1.00	5.00
3		BOB JANE T-MARTS EDG	Lee Knapton	Mid Harbr	14.00	2.00	10.00	2.00
4		SAVAGE BEE	Bruce Savage	Manly	15.00	1.00	5.00	9.00
5		OAS	Alan Cummings	Belmont	16.00	5.00	7.00	4.00
6		TUDOR	Robert Flanagan	Belmont	17.00	6.00	4.00	7.00
7	3.0S	FIRE STOPPING	Andrew Divola	Manly	25.00	16.00	6.00	3.00
8		BRYDENS LAW OFFICE	Jamie Roberts	Georges Rvr	25.00	4.00	9.00	12.00
9		TYPHOON	Craig Nicholls	Manly	26.00	13.00	2.00	11.00
10		R W RETAIL	Daniel Jack	RQYS	35.00	14.00	15.00	6.00
11	7.0S	JLE ELECTRICAL	Julian Lydement	Manly	41.00	7.00	11.00	23.00
12		M & J CHICKENS	Graham Mckellar	Belmont	41.00	15.00	13.00	13.00
13	9.0S	INTEGRATOS	Rod Hozack	Manly	44.00	9.00	14.00	21.00
14		ENERGY AUSTRALIA	Patrick Levy	Manly	44.00	10.00	16.00	18.00
15		DATA # 3	Brad Colledge	RQYS	51.00	23.00	12.00	16.00
16		R.A.M	Chris Thomas	Manly	53.00	26.00	17.00	10.00
17		SHEADS 1ST NAT	Peter Sorensen	Mid Harbr	58.00	12.00	8.00	38.00F
18		NETKIOSK	Gavin Cooke	Manly	59.00	22.00	22.00	15.00
19		Y B FLAT	Gary Bruniges	Belmont	60.00	11.00	41.00F	8.00
20	18.0S	CARLTON DRAUGHT	Dale Cummings	Belmont	62.00	19.00	18.00	25.00
21		RONSTAN	Gerard Smith	Manly	62.00	20.00	23.00	19.00
22		COUGAR BOURBON	Craig Corke	Belmont	68.00	27.00	21.00	20.00
23		JOHN ROMANOUS CONSUL	Ian Heritage	Georges Rvr	70.00	21.00	19.00	30.00
24		ILLAWARRA GEAR AND D	Paul Linnett	Illawara YC	72.00	25.00	25.00	22.00
25		CONTOUR BUILDING & C	Ben Bruniges	Belmont	73.00	18.00	41.00F	14.00
26		TOM AND FRANKS	Ian Henderson	Belmont	77.00	24.00	24.00	29.00
27		CAPITAL RESULTS	Amahl Haradsa	Mid Harbr	79.00	28.00	20.00	31.00
28		SHEADS 1ST NAT II	Marilyn Sorensen	Mid Harbr	83.00	29.00	27.00	27.00
29		THE HERALD	Kieran Humphries	Belmont	86.00	32.00	30.00	24.00
30		BOB	Drew Spring	Mid Harbr	87.00	17.00	32.00	38.00F
31		INFINITE PROPERTY SO	Bruce Gault	Georges Rvr	89.00	34.00	29.00	26.00
32	17.0S	HUNTER GAMING	Matt Waters	Belmont	91.00	33.00	41.00F	17.00
33		SIMPLY AVIATION	Clare Hozack	Manly	91.00	30.00	33.00	28.00
34	26.0S	KOFM 102.9	Adam Gillson	Belmont	95.00	31.00	26.00	38.00F
35		GIRO CONSTRUCTIONS	Adam Favaloro	Mid Harbr	95.00	35.00	28.00	32.00
36		HAZARD	Alexandra Deakin	Mid Harbr	106.00	37.00	31.00	38.00F
37		BIG SATURDAY	Chris Jones	Mid Harbr	108.00	36.00	34.00	38.00F