12ft,14ft and 18ft Skiff have a light regatta day

by Di Pearson on 20 Jan 2007
Light, shifty airs on Corio Bay this afternoon forced Race Officials at Royal Geelong Yacht Club to abandon attempts at racing in the 13 and 16 foot skiffs at the International Skiff Regatta, however the 12ft, 14ft and 18ft skiffs did manage to sail.

12ft Skiffs

Today’s race on Corio Bay at the Sail Melbourne series predetermined who is likely to win the 12ft Skiff Championship and who is not. Emmett Lazich and Cameron McDonald’s second place on the penultimate day of racing in the 12 footers has lifted the CST Composite crew back into the lead.

In another good day for the New Zealanders Chris Reid/Alex Vallings racked up another win and are in the box seat with Lazich to take out the title and maybe help the New Zealand team retain the Interdominion Cup which they have had a stranglehold on for the past nine years.

Reid, who is in second place overall, just over a point away from Lazich, takes up the story: 'At the first mark we were fourth, and at the wing mark we got our noses in front and decided to be conservative. Then Jono (Jonathan Temple/Richard Jones) got us – but we got back through him and held our lead to the last downwind.

'Emmett nearly got us on the last run – he got some pressure on the left and I thought we were gone, but we got a little puff just at the right time.'

Reid and Vallings have had a mixed series but seem to know when to come up with the goods. Today’s result marks their second win. 'This series will come down to the last race, which is pretty exciting,' Reid said.

Yesterday’s series leaders Nathan Bax/Alex Hinton are one crew who think their chances may have come to an end to day with an eighth place series. But they are in third place, just seven points away from the leader, so the game is not over yet for this well sailed crew.

Fellow Kiwis and National champions Hamish Hey/Mike Candy (Nice Action) also think their days are numbered following a finish outside of a top 10. And it will be a little more difficult for them, trailing 17 points behind in fourth place.

'I think both Nathan and me are out of it now. We had a good first start, but it was a general recall and our second one wasn’t too good,' said Hey, a former Javelin champion who has only been sailing a 12 for the past four years.

The 12 footers will sail their final race tomorrow from 2.00pm local time.

14ft Skiffs

In what has shaped up to be a tight series at Sail Melbourne, Lindsay Irwin/Andrew Parry continue their lead of the 14ft (I-14) National Championship from Roger Blasse/Andrew Gilligan by just one point.

The two Victorian pairs scored their worst results today; Irwin dropping his eighth and Blasse his sixth – and with only two races remaining, the Championship looks set to go to either one of these two crews.

Grant Geddes/Dan Wilsdon sailing Boost from South Australia have held on to their third place overall following a third place today, but right behind them, only three points away, are today’s second place getters Ron Scherwinski/James Lanati from South Australia, and so the fight is on for the minor podium places.

Today’s Race 8 was won by Alex Newman/Derek Layfield (Roger Ramjet) from Victoria and the pair, in fifth place overall and just three points away from Flaunt It, could also give a medal a crack .

The 14s second race of the day was abandoned in fizzling breezes on a hot fly-ridden afternoon. The crews will sail their two final races back to back starting from 11.00am, while the 13s and 16s will hold two races, their first to start from 10.00am, the second from 2.00pm.

18ft Skiffs

John ‘Herman’ Winning Jnr and his crew and his crew Anthony ‘Jack’ Young and Casey Smith have taken out the 18ft skiff trophy on count back to Winnings father at the International Regatta which finished up on Corio Bay this afternoon.

This is the first time ever Herman has beaten his father John in an 18ft skiff race and now he has the main prize as well.

John Snr. (Woody) finished the Royal Geelong Yacht Club Series in second place with Ssanyong Yandoo, crewed by Andrew Hey and Drew Waller, with the Kinder Caring crew of Brett Van Munster/Paul Montague/Aiden Menzies finishing third.

Herman went into today’s final races with a small lead and Woody’s pair of second places was not enough, with Herman dropping his fourth place in the final race to claim the trophy.

The Kinder Caring crew of Brett Van Munster/Paul Montague/Aiden Menzies came from last place overall in the competition yesterday to steal third place after winning both of today’s races.

In the final Race 8, starting badly at the pin end, the crew opted to tack off to the right, while the rest of the fleet went right where there appeared to be more breeze. Van Munster and co never looked back after rounding the top mark the first time and came home for a comfortable win.

At the presentation this afternoon, Herman thanked his crew and went on to say: 'This was a great regatta and we’d love to come back. Hopefully we can make it bigger and better.'

'I’m very disappointed we couldn’t get more boats down here,' Herman’s father Woody said. 'We’re in the middle of our State Championship, so it was hard to get more boats here – we’re leaving now to get back to Sydney to compete in our next Heat of the Championship on Sunday,' he said.

Woody agreed that it was a terrific regatta. 'Great city, great bay and terrific facilities. We would have loved a bit more breeze – being so light made it hard for everyone concerned – sailors, race officials. Everyone improved their skills here though,' he said.

Woody explained to those present that the 18s are still an amateur class. The boats are owned by the 18ft skiff association and ‘loaned’ to each crew. All are a one-design built by Brett Van Munster, with the rigs coming from CST Composite – one of the other entries in the race skippered by Chris Dixon, CST’s Operations Manager.

Sail Melbourne’s new Chairman and gold medallist from the Sydney 2000 Games, Mark Turnbull, made the presentation to the top three crews and thanked all for making the effort to be part of Sail Melbourne’s International Skiff Regatta.