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Palm Beach Motor Yachts

2020 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship - Race 2

by Frank Quealey 15 Mar 2020 01:05 PDT 14-22 March 2020
Winning Group and Honda Marine at full speed as they battle for the lead on the second run to Obelisk in race 2 of the 2020 18ft Skiff JJ Giltinan Championship © Frank Quealey

The Honda Marine team of David McDiarmid, Matt Steven and Brad Collins tightened their grip slightly on the 2020 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship when they scored their second win of the regatta in Race 2 on Sydney Harbour today.

Once again, the defending champion team came from behind in the SSW wind before racing away to win by 1m46s.

The race for second place behind Honda Marine was close over the last two legs of the course and became a thriller in the closing stages as Winning Group (Seve Jarvin, Sam Newton, Scott Babbage) desperately hung on to cross the finish line a mere 5s ahead of Yandoo (John Winning, Mike Kennedy and Fang Warren).

Smeg (Micah Lane) once again came back from a slow start to finish fourth, ahead of The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines (Aron Everett) and the early leader Noakesailing (Sean Langman).

The top 10 placings on the points table after two races shows Honda Marine with a score of two points, followed by Winning Group on 6, Shaw & Partners Financial Services (James Dorron) and Smeg on 9, Australian champion Tech2 (Jack Macartney) on 12, Yandoo 14, The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines 17, Finport Finance (Keagan York) 18, URM (Marcus Ashley-Jones) 19 and Appliancesonline.com.au (Brett Van Munster) on 24.

Today's race was sailed in a SSW wind between 15-22-knots over the long South course which always produces a spectacular spinnaker run and a lot of hard work for the crews.

As was the situation in Race 1, Sean Langman's Noakesailing led the fleet at the windward mark then sailed a great downwind leg to Obelisk the establish a clear break over Winning Group and Honda Marine, with The Kitchen Maker-Caesarstone (Jordan Girdis) and Vintec (Kirk Mitchell) close behind.

On the following leg back to the Totem Pole at the south end of Shark Island, Noakes continued to retain her lead but the defending champion Honda Marine was beginning to make her move and started to put pressure on Noakesailing as the pair approached the rounding mark.

Langman and his team elected to go for a spinnaker to try and hold off the charging Honda Marine but it was a move fraught with danger and ultimately cost them the lead.

The two leaders had moved ahead of Winning Group and Yandoo, and a group of boats including Smeg, Tech2, Vintec and Queenslander, skippered by Australian International 14 class champion David Hayter.

Tech2 had also began to improve her position and was in fifth place as the fleet approached the Athol Bay mark, but a capsize on the spinnaker drop ruined their chances and the Australian champion dropped back to finish ninth.

Honda's lead was 40s at the Clark Island windward mark on the second lap of the course and the team elected to gybe early while the chasing Winning Group continued on a starboard gybe.

Honda Marine had to drop their spinnaker as to clear Bradleys Head and Winning Group got to within a few boat lengths of the leader as the pair raced downwind towards Obelisk.

As hard as they tried, the Winning Group team couldn't match the downwind speed of Honda Marine and gradually fell back into the clutches of Yandoo, before hanging on to narrowly take second place.

Race 2 Results:

PosBoat NameFinishElaspedHandicapCorrectedCorrected Pos
1Honda Marine (David McDiarmid 16:09:5201:19:54001:19:544
2Winning Group (Seve Jarvin 16:11:3801:21:38001:21:387
3Yandoo (John Winning Snr 16:11:4301:21:43601:15:431
4Smeg (Micah Lane 16:12:5701:22:57101:21:579
5The Oak Double Bay / 4 Pines (Aron Everett 16:14:0401:24:04301:21:045
6Noakesailing (Sean Langman 16:14:1501:24:15001:24:1514
7Shaw & Partners Financial Services (James Dorron 16:15:0501:25:05001:25:0517
8thekitchenmaker.com.au (Jordan Girdis 16:15:3401:25:34601:19:343
9Tech2 (Jack Macartney 16:16:0701:26:07001:26:0719
10AppliancesOnline.com.au (Brett Van Munster 16:16:1901:26:19501:21:196
11Finport Finance / Breene & Breene Solicitors (Keagan York 16:16:3701:26:37001:26:3720
12Queenslander (David Hayter 16:16:3901:26:39801:18:392
13URM (Marcus Ashley Jones 16:16:5201:26:52501:21:528
14Maersk Line (Peron Pearse 16:17:0801:27:08501:22:0810
15Rag & Famish Hotel (Bryce Edwards 16:17:1801:27:18401:23:1813
16C‑Tech (Alex Vallings 16:17:1901:27:19501:22:1911
17Vintec (Kirk Mitchell 16:21:2901:31:29601:25:2918
18Birkenhead Point Marina (Tom Anderson 16:21:4901:31:49701:24:4915
19Ilve (Pedro Vozone 16:22:1701:32:17901:23:1712
20Bird and Bear (Tom Clout 16:22:2901:32:29501:27:2922
21Noakes Blue (Yvette Heritage 16:23:0001:33:00601:27:0021
22Dal Zotto (Jack Sprague 16:23:0201:33:02801:25:0216
23Lumix (Alex Watson 16:32:2901:42:291001:32:2923
DNFQMC (Matt Rogers      
Comments:      

Races 3 and 4 of the championship will be sailed on Tuesday, March 17).

Other race dates are:

Wednesday - March 18 - Races 5 & 6
Thursday - March 19 - Race 7
Saturday - March 21 - Race 8
Sunday - March 22 - Race 9

Entries for 2020 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship:

Honda Marine: David McDiarmid, Matt Steven, Brad Collins
Winning Group: John Winning Jr., Seve Jarvin, Sam Newton
Finport Finance: Keagan York, Matt Stenta, Angus Williams
Shaw & Partners Financial Services: James Dorron, Harry Bethwaite, Tim Westwood
Smeg: Micah Lane, Ricky Bridge, Peter Harris
C-Tech: Alex Vallings, Sam Trethewey, Matt Coutts
Tech2: Jack Macartney, Charlie Wyatt, Trent Barnabas
Appliancesonline.com.au: Brett Van Munster, Phil Marshall, Kurt Fatouris
The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines: Aron Everett, Courtney Mahar, Charlie Gundy
Noakesailing: Sean Langman, Ed Powys, Nathan Edwards
The Kitchen Maker-Caesarstone: Jordan Girdis, Lachlan Doyle, Tom Quigley
Yandoo: John Winning, Mike Kennedy, Jasper Warren
Vintec: Kirk Mitchell, Pete Nicholson, Matt Wark
Maersk Line: Peron Pearse, Eli Liefting, Harry Clark
Rag & Famish Hotel: Bryce Edwards, Jacob Broom, Rory Cox
Birkenhead Point Marina: Tom Anderson, Elliot Scali, Tom Arkens
URM: Marcus Ashley-Jones, Cam Gundy, Lewis Brake
Ilve: Pedro Vozone, Matt Doyle, Jerome Watts
Queenslander: David Hayter, Nathaniel Dutton, Elliot Mahar
Dal Zotto: Jack Sprague, Josh Feldmann, Marc Chapon
Noakes Blue: Yvette Heritage, Rory Hunter, Oliver Scott-Mackie
Bird & Bear: Tom Clout, Cameron McDonald, John Walton
Lumix: Alex Watson, Cooper Richmond, Ben Roxburgh
QMC: Matt Rogers, Darren Rogers, Steve Wilson

Spectators can see all the teams while they are rigging, then follow the racing on board the club's spectator ferry, which leaves Double Bay Wharf, alongside the rigging area, at 2pm.

Book online through the club's website www.18footers.com.

AeroMedia Live Broadcast team will be out on Sydney Harbour to capture all the action. For those who can't make it onto the water, live streaming is available at www.18footers.com and clicking on the '18 Footers TV' link.

JJ Giltinan Championship information, race results, race reports and photographic images is also available on the club website www.18footers.com and other news about the championship is available at:

Twitter - @18skiff
Instagram - @18skiff
Facebook - International 18Ft Skiff

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