New South Wales 12 Foot Skiff State Titles at Sydney Flying Squadron and Lane Cove
by Murray Press 18 Dec 2020 15:28 PST
30 March - 2 April 2018
Sail Inc wins the New South Wales 12 Foot Skiff State Titles © Murray Press
A good rollup of 12 Foot Skiffs faced that starter at the Sydney Flying Squadron & Lane Cove 12ft Sailing Skiff Club over consecutive weekends in early December.
19 boats entered the series with six races in conditions from a light North Easterly on the first day to a fresh Westerly on day two and a moderate Easterly for the closing weekend. A great test of the 12's top 3 rigs.
The racing was close over a combination of long and short courses.
Sail Inc sailed by Nick Press & Andrew Hay dominated the series, winning all 6 races, the majority comfortably but also showing their class to fight back on a couple of occasions.
The battle for the minor placings was intense with consistent placings in the top four paying for Red Energy sailed by Nicks father Murray Press & Mark Murihead. They finished with a 5 point buffer to the third skiff Geotherm sailed by Brett Hobson & Geoff Little.
Fourth and fifth tied on points just 2 points outside the top three.
Sail Inc, the current Interdominion champions showed great pace across the range notably extending downwind and continue to lift the benchmark in the class.
The new skiff 'Stiff' put together this season and sailed by Brendan Jenkins (2019/20 Cherub National Champion) with Cameron McDonald on the tiller showed great pace and will be a force in coming races. They finished just out of the top three. A number of boats have built on last season pushing up the fleet.
Shu Styx, Scott Hobson & Jim Beck are consistently on the pace now while Peter & Steve Hill sailing Arrogant Frog with some new working sails are now in the hunt.
Overall great 12 foot skiff racing.
See full results.