18ft Skiff Club Championship - Race 13
by Frank Quealey 1 Mar 2025 23:57 PST
2 March 2025
The Australian champion team of Harry Price, Max Paul and Finn Rodowicz already had the Australian 18 Footers League Club Championship won prior to today's race so much of the interest focused on the race being a final hit-out for the local, interstate and international teams before the Winnings 2025 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship starts next weekend on Sydney Harbour.
A 15-18knot southerly wasn't going to make things easy for the fleet, and crew work and consistency was going to play a big part deciding the outcome.
Once again, the talented Rag & Famish Hotel crew were superb in scoring yet another championship victory. Recovering from a moderate start, the team sailed a brilliant first downwind leg to grab the lead and go on to defeat a gallant Vaikobi (Kirk Mitchell, Andrew Stephenson, and Daniel Barnett) by 1m13s.
With several boats competing by invitation, the third 'League' boat to finish was Sixt (Jacob Marks, Alex Marinelli and Matt Doyle), which was a further 6m56s behind Vaikobi.
Emma Rankin's Shaw and Partners Financial Services came home in fourth place, ahead of Yandoo (Tom Needham), Balmain (Henry Larkings), Smeg (Nathan McNamara) and Noakes (Bec Hancock), which was the only other club boat to complete the course.
In the conditions, it was an excellent effort by both Emma and Bec who are two competitors who never give up. Well done.
Other performances worthy of mention were Balmain, which led the Season Point Score narrowly going into today's race. The crew were sailing brilliantly over the first few legs of the course and were well on the way to possibly taking out the season title when the jib carried-away and ruined any hope of victory.
The crew battled on and capsized at the end of the long spinnaker run to Obelisk, where they repaired the problem and got back into the race. It was a great effort as they came home in fifth place (on handicap), but The Rag had edged ahead to win the title.
The new Marine Outlook team (Josh Porebski, Cam Gundy and Charlie Gundy) showed that they will be "one to watch" in the Giltinan Championship when they crossed the finish line in third place but had been recorded as 'OCS' from the start.
Two interstate teams, Queensland's Big Foot Bags and Covers (Dave Hayter) and the unsponsored Team Vicfrom Victoria, were also sailing by invitation and again both showed their ability with consistently good performances to cross the line in fourth and seventh places respectively.
Germany's top team at the JJs, Black Knight, skippered by Heinrich von Bayern, was another consistent performer sailing by invitation. The classy team was fifth across the finish line and will be one of the leading contenders when the regatta starts next Saturday.
The Yandoo team won the race to the first weather mark where they led Finport Finance (John Harris) by 7s, followed by Balmain, Big Foot, The Kitchen Maker (Lachlan Steel), Marine Outlet, Black Knight, and Rag & Famish Hotel, which was around 30s behind the leader.
The long spinnaker run from Clark Island to Obelisk Bay in a southerly wind is always a test for even the very best teams, and today's race wasn't going to be any different as Yandoo capsized while the crew were endeavouring to round the mark alongside Rag & Famish. Almost taking out The Rag in the incident.
On the following tough windward beat back into the mark at the southern end of Shark Island, the Balmain crew were at their best and headed The Rag for some time before The Rag fought back to grab the lead again before Shark Island.
Vaikobi had moved through the fleet after a slow start and began to also make a challenge on the two front runners over the next two legs of the course. When Balmain's woes hit near Clark Island before the second run to Obelisk, Vaikobi took up the challenge of taking on the champion Rag team.
As hard as the young team tried, they were unable to reduce the lead but it was certainly an impressive lead up to next week.
In the overall standings, Rag & Famish Hotel won the club championship title from Yandoo, Balmain and Vaikobi. In the Season Point Score, Rag & Famish Hotel won narrowly from Balmain, Vaikobi and Yandoo.
Today's double victory was impressive for the long-time Rag & Famish Hotel sponsorship but it also had an unfortunate side as the hotel's 2001 Giltinan champion skipper John Harris badly cut his hand in a wild Finport Finance capsize on the first spinnaker run.
NOTE: The Winnings 2025 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship will begin on Sydney Harbour next Saturday, 8 March. The Australian 18 Footers League will have a spectator ferry following each of the nine races over the following week, concluding on Sunday, 16 March. The spectator ferry will leave Double Bay Public Wharf at 2pm on each race day of the championship.
SailMedia will live stream each of the championship races and will also live stream the Invitation race on Friday, 7 March.