Rockport Crew's 25th Year Reunion
by Frank Quealey 28 Jul 22:53 PDT
Rockport's 1999 JJ Giltinan World Championship crew reunion in Cowes © Rockport team
When England's Tim Robinson skippered Rockport to victory in the 1999 JJ Giltinan 18 footer Championship on Sydney Harbour, he set the record of becoming the first skipper from the Northern Hemisphere to win the coveted 18 footer championship, which was first staged in 1938.
Robinson, along with fellow Englishman Zeb Elliott and Australian David Witt held a good points lead going into the final race but recalls, "We were some way ahead on points going into the last race and needing to finish no lower than 14th to win. The wind was light and we were about 18th and the stress levels were mounting, but we got there in the end."
Twenty five years later the trio recently got together in London to reminisce the historic victory.
According to Tim, "Just like the idea of designing a monster mainsail and spinnaker for the Rockport 18 footer, the 25th anniversary dinner for the 1999 JJ Giltinan winners was a David Witt concept that all came together within a week. The Witts were in the UK for the Fastnet, Zeb and I were both free, so I managed to get a table at a great London restaurant."
For David Witt, "I've had plenty to do with Tim since the 1999 victory but literally haven't seen Zeb since the end of the regatta."
From Tim's report, it was a great reunion. "What a fantastic night we all had - drinking champagne watching the YouTube videos from the regatta, followed by a sumptuous dinner and finishing with late night drinks in London's Soho House."
"It was a testimony to friendships forged in the 18 footers and the JJ Giltinan with delightful memories of a great moment in each of our lives - it would be hard to imagine a more enjoyable evening."
"All the stories came out - hiding Witty's identity from Tony Reynolds until just before the regatta, betting $1000 on us winning, the poor early races, storming back into contention with two back to back victories as the breeze came up, a near choke in the final race, then glory and a place in 18 footer folklore."
"Reliving it was such a pleasure and really bought home the enduring legacy of the legendary 18 footers!"
I recall an earlier interview with Tim a few years ago when he remembered the 'experience' of teaming with Witty for the 1999 challenge in Rockport. "Witty was quite influential, or should I say forceful, regarding our sail program and we bought a new set of sails from Ian Short, in Sydney."
"Of course, being Witty, we ended up with the biggest sails it was possible to build. They were very big and very flat, which meant we were super-fast in the breeze and really quite slow in the lighter winds. This meant winning the windier races by minutes but struggling in the lighter days."
"He was equally confident off the water and decided to place a bet on us to win the regatta. Initially, we had odds quoted to us of 14-1, which Witty and I decided was too good to miss out on."
"We approached the bookies with $1,000 for the win but got knocked back to a couple of hundred dollars when the bookie said he could not afford to lose that much. It was still a good payout and the evening went on until it was all gone."
David Witt is now the skipper of 100ft SHK Scallywag but still has a strong connection with the 18 footers and the Australian 18 Footers League and said "18s sailors on Scallywag for the Rolex Fastnet race are Ben Piggott, Peter Britt, Matt Stenta, Luke Parkinson, Rob Greenhalgh and Andrew Hay. Club Life Member Graham Turner is also our rib driver".
Scallywag hasn't looked back since a refit and relaunch at the start of 2024, with a massive win Rolex Middle Sea Race, Line Honours in the Loro Piana Giraglia, a race from Saint-Tropez to Genoa via the Giraglia Rock, and a win in the offshore race of the 2024 Maxi 1 World Championship.
The run has continued in 2025, with a nail-biting victory in the Loro Piana Giraglia offshore race, and all throughout with a crew including past and present 18-Footer sailors Luke Parkinson, Andrew Hay, Rob Greenhalgh, Finn Rodowicz, Ryan Ewings and Matt Stenta.