18 footer Season heats up- MacBank Perspective

by Jack Macartney on 13 Jan 2008 Now a third of the way through the season and the Australian Titles underway, all the skiff teams have stepped up their programs targeting the JJ Giltinan 18 footer World Titles in February.

For many of the skiffs the season so far has revolved around rig development with many of the top teams opting to build new #1 rigs to keep up the Bat Wing mainsail phenomenon!

Results thus far have seen Channel 7 win the State Titles (late last year) and they have certainly been setting the early benchmark. Fiat (reigning World Champions) has also been sailing well along with Asko and Rag & Famish producing solid results.

Adam Beashel was welcomed back to the class this year taking over the reins from ex 18’ World Champion Euan McNicol aboard Club Marine. After a few weeks of finding their feet Club Marine is certainly lurking as a dark horse for the upcoming World Titles.

Rig Development (in brief):

During the off-season both the Fiat and Channel 7 skiffs kick started the development of new masts and sails to which we joined. With the guidance of North Sails Australia (Michael Coxon) Southern Spars NZ (John Clinton), Euan McNicol, Iain Murray and Andrew Palfrey a new generation of technology was launched.

To elaborate; the size and power of the working sails on the 18’s has increased dramatically with the progression from the 'pin head' mainsail to the bat wing.

Controlling the bat wing (twist) and mid leach profile has become increasingly difficult due to the mast over-bending in critical areas. Basically the masts needed to be stiffer to help the sail function correctly so the new breed of masts was created.

With this in mind we developed our new #1 mast and sail profile to suit our lighter crew weight by keeping slightly more bend (than Channel 7 and Fiat) in our rig to enable more effective control of luff curve, to help control our power through the ranges; and so far we couldn’t be more pleased with how the ship is going, to finally be comfortable in up-range #1 conditions is quite relieving!

A few of the other top 18’s (Rag & Famish Hotel, Asko, Club Marine and Kinder Caring) have also built new #1 rigs however through a local manufacturer (Composite Spars & Tubes).

It is has not been long that everyone has been sporting their new creations so the upcoming weeks will be very interesting to see what is working and who’s managing it well.

The season:

The first third of our season (to date) has revolved around the rig development thus much time has been spent working on the skiff, building and modifying different components in preparation for the Australian Titles and JJ Giltinan (world Titles) in February.

Our results to date have consistent but not exceptional, thankfully we are now fully prepared and in a position to spend more time where it counts – on the water – getting rid of the ‘elephant feet’ running through the boat, so hopefully the results will follow.

With five heats of the Australian titles left any number of skiffs can win, the second heat tomorrow is shaping up to be a ripper – plenty of Sunshine and a good seabreeze forecast.

More updates to follow in coming weeks.