Top 18 footer team gets a youthful injection

by Dave Healy on 24 Aug 2009
Chris Skinner and Dave Healy have high expectations for their upcoming 18ft Skiff season, and they've brought in 23 year old Luke Gower on mainsheet to help make it happen.

Skinner has a wealth of experience in 12ft and 18ft Skiffs and is predicting a much better result at the 2010 JJ Giltinan trophy than the 11th he got sailing with Healy and Chris Burgess as Quantum Sails NZ last season.

While they then went onto win the ANZAC regatta, the team felt they had under performed in 2008/09. Gower is no stranger to performing at top level, having won a number of national titles including the 2003 Starling nationals. His enthusism towards the campaign is evident, 'it's an awesome opportunity to be sailing an eighteen footer, and to step straight into a good team is a huge bonus'.

Skinner's team will have their first test amongst the local fleet at the Winter Champs off Murrays Bay in early October, which always tests the 18 footers boat-handling skills sailing on short courses and having to weave through the dinghy classes. There's no doubt about where Skinner has his focus, with both the JJ Giltinan and Mark Foy trophies up for grabs in Sydney in Feburary, 'It's time to step up the game and look at bringing home some trophies. There's been talk of how the New Zealand fleet is making progress, so we need to prove that against the best in the world'.

Skinner, Gower and Healy have been well supported by Jackson Electrical and Zhik, although they are still looking out for a name sponsor to come onboard.