JJ Giltinan Trophy: Success celebrated at Auckland SC
by Richard Gladwell 25 Mar 2018 17:30 PDT
26 March 2018
Final day, 2018 Giltinan 18fter International Championship, Sydney, Match 11, 2018 © Michael Chittenden
On Friday evening, the Auckland Sailing Club was host to celebrations for the winning of the JJ Giltinan Trophy by the crew of Honda Marine.
David McDiarmid, Matt Steven, Brad Collins became the first New Zealand crew to win the JJ Gitinan Trophy on Sydney Harbour earlier this month. The win ended a seven-year campaign for McDiarmid - he placed third in the 2017 event despite winning four of the seven races.
The win also broke a 44-year drought Kiwi team to win the trophy after Terry and Kim McDell and Peter Brook won the 1974 regatta on Auckland Harbour sailing the Farr designed Travelodge.
While the win on Sydney Harbour was remarkable for being the first in the 80 year history of the JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship, it was also notable for being the first where going into the final day of the nine-race event, it was only possible for it to be won by one of two New Zealand crews.
Second on Sydney Harbour was a rookie crew of Josh Porebski, Jack Simpson, Dave Hazzard sailing Maersk Line, who finished just one point behind Honda Marine.
Porebski and came to the 18ft Skiffs from the Olympic 49er class and provided an interesting benchmark between the two - pointing perhaps to the fact that the Olympic skiff is the more difficult to sail. The Maersk Line crew also came into the regatta with very limited sailing time in the 18ft skiffs, and hardly put a foot wrong.
Significantly they finished only one point behind Honda Marine but had a better discard race - two fifth placings compared to Honda Marine's single sixth placing.
The other two New Zealand skiffs Knight Frank team (Riley Dean, Luke Stevenson and Tim Snedden) and C-Tech (Alex Vallings, Sam Trethewey, Matt Coutts) finished seventh and eighth in the 25 strong fleet from six countries.
Another rookie crew from the USA placed sixth in the series, leaving only three Australian crews in the top eight overall.
The New Zealand team performance and particularly that of Maersk Line was achieved in a variety of conditions and wind direction on Sydney Harbour.
The young Maersk Line crew had not previously sailed on Sydney Harbour and in one early race had the course chart out when they were leading and needed to find the next mark.
While New Zealand crews have occasionally enjoyed a speed equal to or slightly better than the Sydney crews, local knowledge has been their undoing in previous years as they have tried to cope with the vagaries of Sydney Harbour and ferries against the experienced Sydney crews.
There was some contention as to whether the JJ Giltinan Trophy would be allowed to leave Australia. However, it was uplifted the following day by Graham Catley, a long time sailor and backer of the New Zealand 18ft Skiff fleet.
It is not yet established where the Defence of the trophy will be held - whether it will return to its spiritual home of Sydney Harbour, or if a defence will be held in Auckland - assuming the Hyundai Marine Sports Centre will be completed on time later this year.
Fittingly the function was held in the Auckland Sailing Club premises, which has been the home of 12ft and 18ft Skiff sailing and was due for demolition as part of the redevelopment of the Okahu Bay area. However it has been spared the wrecker's ball, and will enjoy a new life as a junior sailing centre, with the skiff club being housed within the Hyundai Marine Sports Centre.