Twelve Foot Skiff National Championships -Gemmell Sails leads
by Skiff Ed on 12 Apr 2009
12 footers flying Skiff Ed
No one thought it possible, but Saturday’s breeze on Sydney Harbour was lighter than heat one on Friday for the 2009 Twelve Foot Skiff Australian Championships.
After the light Easy NorEast breeze settled in to all of five knots, the race committee opted for an Easterly course.
After a very even start, Gemmell Sails began to open up a lead half way up the long first work, and were closely followed by Giddy Up and Yabba Dabba.
The breeze almost completely died on the approach to Shark Island, before filtering in again from the East.
This favoured Yabba Dabba and saw them round the top mark in second place just behind the charging Gemmell Sails.
O also made big gains approaching the top mark, and picked a nice line of breeze early down the spinnaker run to keep touch with the leaders.
The breeze died and then shifted back to the NorEast again, affecting most of the mid fleet and resulting in many position changes.
The shift in breeze direction turned the course into a one tack event, and the lack of breeze forced the race committee to again shorten the course.
Gemmell Sails hung on to record their first Australian Championships heat win, from son Nick Press in Yabba Dabba. O finished third and Giddy Up fourth.
Heat three was postponed till Monday afternoon.
Two heats are scheduled for Sunday 12th April from 2pm.
Gemmell Sails leads the regatta after two heats from O then Yabba Dabba.
Handicap was again taken out by Vantage Real Estate, a credit to their consistent performance.
Full results at www.skiff.org.au
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