Australian 13ft & 16ft Skiff National Championships at Manly 16ft Skiff Sailing Club

Australian 13ft & 16ft Skiff National Championships at Manly 16ft Skiff Sailing Club - Heat 1 Resail

by Adam Lucius 12 Jan 21:57 PST 7-14 January 2023

SKE Electrical was forced to overcome a notorious harbour flat spot, an intruding power boat and a stablemate desperate to spoil the party on a day where two more clubs joined the winners' list at the Australian 16ft Championships at Manly.

A little over an hour after Middle Harbour's Eric's Storage (Harry Lawson) broke through for the club's first win at the nationals, Belmont's Scott Babbage piloted his boat to victory in the rescheduled heat one.

Eric's Storage on day 5 of the 2023 Australian 16ft Championships - photo © SailMedia

It was Belmont's first win at the regatta, slightly easing the pain of Sunday's abandoned first heat when an ocean liner wreaked havoc with the fleet with two Belmont boats on track for a 1-2 finish.

Babbage and crew Harry Price and Joel Skelton had to hold off their clubmates aboard runner-up Skelcon (Henry Makin) to claim the narrowest of wins.

It came after a sudden drop in breeze at an eastern pocket of the harbour along with some "motor traffic" threatened to conspire against them in the shadows of the finish line.

"Yeah, it was tricky. There was plenty of pressure coming down the right-hand side of the course," Babbage said. "The Skelcon boys got a little depth on us so we couldn't gybe out and were pushed into a corner. "We also had a power boat to contend with... there's always plenty of obstacles to deal with on the harbour. "We were lucky to get a little puff through to the finish line."

Cunninghams on day 5 of the 2023 Australian 16ft Championships - photo © SailMedia

Skelcon was just 11 seconds behind in second, with Moonen Yachts (Daniel Turner), Cunninghams (Nick Connor) and Typhoon (Nathan Wilmot) making up the top five.

The win has renewed Babbage's hopes SKE Electrical can push for a top 10 finish after mixed results earlier in the week. He said: "It's nice to have a couple of Belmont boats on the podium to break up the Manly boats. "The boys sailed a really good race and we're looking forward to the next few days with the nor' easters predicted."

Middle Harbour had good reason to celebrate earlier in the day after Lawson sailed an excellent tactical race in the fluky east-nor-east breeze. Cunninghams, in the first of two great performances for the day, finished second in front of Typhoon and Tribeca (Ben Bradley).

SKE Electrical on day 5 of the 2023 Australian 16ft Championships - photo © SailMedia

Manly boats failed to win a race for the first time in this regatta but still enjoy a stranglehold on the overall pointscore tally. With each boat to drop its two worst results, defending champion Wilmot enjoys a four-point break from IMEI (Dave Gilmour) with Moonen a further two points in arrears.

Friday's double heat of racing will go a long way towards determine our 2022/23 Australian Championship winner.

Turner said: "We're still in it but obviously a lot has to go right for us tomorrow and Saturday. Anything can happen in sailing so we will keep punching away."

Plonk Cafe on day 5 of the 2023 Australian 16ft Championships - photo © SailMedia

In the 13s, EBIX (Jemma Hopkins) opened up a seven-point lead on clubmate Bartley Construction (Taylor Springett) after another near perfect outing. Hopkins won the day's first race before finishing second behind Middle Harbour's Plonk Café (Avril Richardson) in the follow-up heat.

Further information can be found at www.manlyskiff.com.au and skiffs.org.au

Results after Day 5:

Pos	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	Club	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	Pts
16ft Skiffs
1		Noakes	Dave O'Connor	StGSC	[32]	5	1	1	[18]	6	1	1	15
2		Typhoon	Nathan Wilmot	M16SSC	2	1	[10]	[6]	3	5	2	5	18
3		Sail Racing	Felix Grech	M16SSC	1	3	[12]	2	[22]	8	7	7	28
4		Moonen Yachts	Daniel Turner	M16SSC	5	2	5	8	[12]	3	[11]	6	29
5		IMEI	David Gilmour	M16SSC	4	6	2	4	5	[10]	9	[10]	30
6		SKE Electrical	Scott Babbage	B16	[19]	[35]	7	3	15	1	5	2	33
7		Eric's Storage	Harry Lawson	MH16SC	6	4	14	[17]	1	9	[20]	4	38
8		NHS Building Supplies	Tom Dawson	B16	[49F]	[28]	3	5	6	7	17	3	41
9		Cunninghams	Nick Connor	M16SSC	[29]	11	11	9	2	4	[21]	8	45
10		Tribeca	Ben Bradley	StGSC	15	9	6	[20]	4	[21]	10	12	56
11		Skelcon	Henry Makin	B16	23	10	8	7	[27]	2	8	[49F]	58
12		Musto	Hugh Stodart	M16SSC	11	[17]	[21]	12	10	15	4	11	63
13		Light & Wonder	Matt Meaney	B16	9	[24]	[24]	11	17	11	6	13	67
14		Southerly	Zoe Dransfield	M16SSC	3	8	[30]	[32]	11	17	18	15	72
15		Dominos	Michael Quirk	B16	8	[20]	16	13	16	[28]	3	16	72
16		Botany Access	Chris Thomas	M16SSC	10	12	9	14	8	22	[27]	[25]	75
17		Red Pumps Red	Tyler Dransfield	M16SSC	12	19	4	15	19	[24]	[23]	18	87
18		Sutech Building Consultants	Michael Koerner	M16SSC	7	7	15	23	25	[26]	[28]	19	96
19		Fluid Building	Clint Bowen	M16SSC	14	13	25	[27]	[30]	23	12	9	96
20		Nozomi	Andrew Chapman	B16	25	[29]	[49F]	10	13	18.5	16	14	96.5
21		Infinity Rigging	Lachlan Steel	StGSC	17	16	18	18	[21]	16	13	[21]	98
22		RW Retail	Carlton Smith	DPSS	20	[31]	17	21	20	14	14	[26]	106
23		Red Pumps	Bruce Savage	M16SSC	[36]	25	13	19	9	31	22	[49H]	119
24		Capital Brewing Co.	Jessica Iles	M16SSC	13	23	[42]	[36]	26	13	30	17	122
25		Outback Marine	Georgia Clancy	M16SSC	16	[27]	26	16	14	[27]	25	27	124
26		Noakes Blue	Ryan Ewings	StGSC	24	21	22	26	7	[29]	26	[32]	126
27		Chubbs	Jesse Dransfield	M16SSC	26.5	18	20	24	23	[32]	[31]	22	133.5
28		Kamikaze	Richard Williams	MH16SC	30	[34]	23	22	33	12	19	[49F]	139
29		Shebang	Anthony King	M16SSC	22	[30]	29	25	[39]	25	15	23	139
30		Firestopping	Alex Hart	M16SSC	26.5	[38]	28	29	[35]	20	24	20	147.5
31		Toogara	Josh Tasker	StGSC	33	15	[35]	30	28	18.5	32	[49F]	156.5
32		Employment Hero	Will Divola	M16SSC	18	22	32	[41]	31	30	[49F]	24	157
33		CMG Property Maintenance	Michael Vincent	MH16SC	21	26	27	28	24	[36]	[42]	34	160
34		Edenda	Matilda Lang	DSC	28	[36]	[39]	31	32	35	33	30	189
35		MH44	Eva Attwood	MH16SC	36N	19N	[41]	37	34	38	[44]	28	192
36		Bartley Construction 16	Nathan Lilley	M16SSC	35	33	31	35	[49O]	37	[39]	29	200
37		P Leahy	Mark Willson	MH16SC	34	32	33	33	29	39	[43]	[49F]	200
38		FIREBALL	James Downey	M16SSC	[40]	37	38	38	[42]	33	29	31	206
39		Wichard	Zac Heyes	B16	37	40	34	34	36	[44]	[49F]	36	217
40		Konami	Bethany Sherry	B16	38	45	19	43	38	[49B]	37	[49F]	220
41		Man Flu	Nicholas Stabback	MH16SC	39	[43]	36	[42]	40	40	36	38	229
42		Shead	Marilyn Sorensen	MH16SC	42	41	37	[44]	41	42	34	[49F]	237
43		Weathertex	Jess Rivers	B16	44	42	[49F]	40	43	34	35	[49F]	238
44		Skiffropes.com	Amy Hargrave	MH16SC	[45]	39	40	[49F]	45	41	38	35	238
45		Joe Walsh Rigging	Kye Rivers	M16SSC	[49N]	[49C]	44	45	37	43	40	37	246
46		XXXX Gold	Neale Jones	B16	41	44	[48N]	44N	[46]	46	41	33	249
47		Erics Removals	Joshua Theunissen	MH16SC	43	46	[49F]	[49C]	44	45	49F	49F	276
48		Bella Group	Georgia Steenson	B16	[49C]	[49C]	49C	49C	49C	49C	49C	49C	294
13ft Skiffs
1	35	EBIX	Jemma Hopkins	M16SSC	[3]	1	[2]	1	1	2	1	2	8
2	38	Bartley Construction	Taylor Springett	M16SSC	1	[6]	[4]	2	4	3	2	4	16
3	46	Fluid	Donald Rowlinson	M16SSC	[6]	3	6	4	2	4	[7]	1	20
4	32	Plonk Cafe	Avril Richardson	MH16SC	4	4	[8]	[9]	5	1	3	3	20
5	43	CyberTechGroup.org	Theo Franklin	M16SSC	7N	[10N]	1	5	6	5	4	[9]	28
6	41	Botany Scaffold	Sophie Hart	M16SSC	2	2	[11]	3	[9]	7	8	6	28
7	15	Sheerline	Owen Gillmeister	M16SSC	[8]	5	5	6	[16O]	6	5	8	35
8	9	#9	Angus Stewart	HKSC	9	7	9	[12]	3	8	[14]	5	41
9	40	Cheeky	Zackary Wyatt	HKSC	[15]	9	7	7	7	[10]	6	7	43
10	37	Dutchess	Amy Bentley	M16SSC	7	[14]	[12]	8	11	9	9	10	54
11	16	Livewire	Issac Robbins	HKSC	10	11	3	11	13	11	[15]	[15]	59
12	31	ABICO	Zachary Brakenbury	M16SSC	[16N]	[16N]	13	10	8	12	13	12	68
13	44	Awol	Andrew de Montfort	M16SSC	12	[13]	10	13	10	[14]	12	11	68
14	45	QED	David Tulk	M16SSC	11	10	[16H]	14	12	[15]	10	13	70
15	27	Black Cat	Byron Lowe	HKSC	13	12	[16F]	[15]	14	13	11	14	77