Reports & Results

SAN FRANCISCO---When three 22-year-old sailors win a world championship---in this case the JJ Giltinan regatta---in a high-performance class traditionally dominated by veterans, one might wonder if . . . but stop right there.

"The Worlds were no fluke," said Mike Martin, longtime crew for Howard Hamlin, the triple defending champion of this seventh 18' Skiff International Regatta hosted by the host St. Francis Yacht Club. "Those guys are sailing well."

Those guys are Australia's Seve Jarvin and crew Sam Newton and Tom Clout, who won Tuesday's two races wire to wire with Hamlin, Martin and Paul Allen fighting for two second places in the 11-boat fleet.

Jarvin's red boat Gotta Love It, named for its Channel 7 TV sponsor in Sydney, and Hamlin's Wild Oats appeared to be following the same road map through the San Francisco Bay subtleties of hefty breeze and clashing currents in winds building from 14 to 20 knots through the afternoon.

Jarvin, asked if he was covering or following Hamlin from ahead, said, "A bit of both, I think. This is the first time we've raced here so we watched him a bit to see how he was doing it. We're also a new crew so we thought we'd go out and pick it up as we went along."

They must be quick learners, but part of that probably comes from their patron, Iain Murray, one of the legends of the 116-year-old class, and his 18 Skiff crew, Andrew Palfrey, who has been coaching Jarvin and his pals. Murray, meantime, was preparing to race a Star in the Olympics at Qingdao later this week.

Martin said, "Those guys are sailing exceptionally well and with exceptional speed, but sailing conservatively and going where we go. They were beating us by sailing the boat better."

Overall, this may be the strongest fleet ever in this event with six boats from the class's deep roots in Australia and two-time JJ Giltinan winner Hamlin and four wannabes from the Bay area. They raced a 1.75-nautical mile windward-leeward course, first 2 1/2 times around and then three times around, finishing downwind.

Another former world champion, John Winning, shares third place with fellow Aussie Brett Van Munster.

Eight more races are scheduled over the next four days. Racing starts at 1 p.m. PDT, conditions permitting. Competitors may discard their worst scores after four races and another one after 10, which include the annual Ronstan Bridge to Bridge classic late Friday afternoon when the 18s will join the kite boarding and windsurfing crowds for the 5 1/2-mile downwind dash from under the Golden Gate to the Oakland Bay Bridge inside the bay.

Standings

(after 2 of 10 races):

1. Gotta Love It, Seve Jarvin/Sam Newton/Tom Clout, Sydney, Australia, 1-1, 2 points.

2. Wild Oats, Howard Hamlin/Mike Martin/Paul Allen, Long Beach, Calif., 2-2, 4.

3. Yandoo, John Winning/Andrew Hay/David Gibson, Sydney, 3-5, 8.

4. Kinder Care Home Nursing, Brett Van Munster/Paul Montague/Ayden Mezies, Sydney, 4-4, 8.

5. Active Air, Matthew Searle/ Dan Wilsdon/Archie Massey, Sydney, 6-3, 9.

6. SLAM, Grant Rollerson/Matt Noble/David Mann, Perth, Australia, 5-9, 14.

7. Panasonic, Jonathan Whitty/Tom Anderson/John Herman Winning, Sydney, 7-7, 14.

8. Harken, Joey Pasquali/Chad Freitas/Rory Giffen, Santa Cruz, Calif., 9-6, 15.

9. Cabot Cheese, Patrick Whitmarsh/Danny Cayard/Joe Penrod, San Francisco, 10-8, 18.

10. Skiffsailing.org., Jonny Goldsberry/Jay Scott/Andy Casey, Alameda, Calif., 8-12/DNF, 20.

11. Natural Blues, Dan Brandt/Cooper Dressler/Pike Harris, San Francisco, 12/DNF-10, 22.

2008 18ft Skiff European International Championships: Final Day (Race reports thanks to Alec Mckinlay & presse@adonnante.com)

Before the final day of the 2008 18ft Skiff European Championships, the  race committee of the Yacht Club Six-Fours, under the exemplary leadership of Principle Race Officer Guy Guermond and Assistant Race Officer John Coveney, had already managed to hold 12 races, despite loosing the previous day to the Mistral winds. Even so the decision was made to bring forward the start of racing on the final day to 11.00am to potentially sail a further four races before the 2.30pm deadline for the final start. This they were able to do comfortably, despite a number of course resets as the thermal breeze clocked right during the day. With only 12 points separating the top 5 boats in the competition and an extra discard kicking in on the 16th race the pressure was on for the fleet in extremely tricky conditions with a fickle 8-10 knot sea breeze and a large sea way left over from the previous day's strong wind.

Leading into the final day, Australian Grant Rollerson with his crew Anthony Young and Tom Partington on the brand new Slam relished the  conditions. The only boat in the fleet to carry the new hi-modulus carbon mast from CST they started cleanly in each of the first three races and quickly pulled out a comfortable lead to dominate the day's racing and claim the overall event title with a race to spare. They seemed to be enjoying themselves so much that they stayed out for the final race, only to end up entertaining the fleet by pitch-poling when in the lead in the steep waves left over from the previous day's wind. Recovering quickly they still went on to record a sixth place. Danish team Bodotex sailed by Jesper Broendum, Jan Saugman and Martin Friderichsen  benefited from the error to take their first race win of the event.

Placed third overall at the beginning of the day and second in the European classification,  Ian Turnbull, Paul Constable and Alec Mckinlay on Ronstan UK steadily went about working their way back up to the European title. A fifth, third and fourth in the first three races brought them back to the top of the European ladder and second overall, but they left themselves with everything to do in the final race, after a dreadful start saw them round the windward mark in 13th. They steadily worked themselves back through the fleet until in sailing through the lee of Wild Oats Chardonnay on the final beat they climbed back up to third place to take second overall by a single point and as well as the European Championship title for 2008. It was almost not to be as they came very close to copying Slam's trick on the second run, burying their bow almost to the mast as they came extremely close to pitch-poling in the back of a steep wave on the second run

Australian skiff legend and previous JJ Giltinan Champion John Winning with his crew David Gibson and Andrew Hay on Yandoo Ssangyong were always near the front of the fleet and had a very consistent day counting a fourth and two second places, but a seventh in the first race of the day left them having to settle for third overall.

Howie Hamlin, sailing Wild Oats Chardonnay with Mike Martin and Paul Allen,  won last year's event at Lake Garda so decisively he discarded a first place in his final results. This year he had to be satisfied with a single race win for the week and fourth place overall.

Going into the last day in second place and leading the European standings the experienced UK team of Andy Richards, Andrew Fairley and Dave Richards on Pindar had what was for them a disastrous day. Despite being the first on course and looking eager to capitalise on their overnight position, they chose to go hard right out of the start of the first race, a decision that was to prove very costly to them although they recovered to 6th overall. They were not able to improve much on that result in the following races eventually had to settle for fifth overall.

The 2008 18ft Skiff European International Championship has been one of the highest quality and most successful events held by the class in recent years. It will be remembered both for the  quality and intensity of the racing, with 16 races over 7 days run to a first class international standard by the Yacht Club de Six Fours Race Committee and also for the standard and competitiveness of the fleet with eight separate race winners from 4 different countries.

The European fleet now moves on to Weymouth in the UK for the next round of the European Grand Prix circuit and UK National Championship, commencing August 10th.

Day 5 of the European International Championship for the 18ft skiffs at Six-Fours started under an uncharacteristically leaden sky and 10-12 knot breeze from the south west . The race committee, who are showing every intention of giving the fleet as close to the maximum number of races for the series,  sounded the first signal for race 11 punctually at 12.00. However their efforts were confounded by an overeager fleet and the general recall was sounded for the first time at the regatta. On the restart it was the right hand side that paid for a group of boats including Investec Private Banking (Mason Woodworth, Davind Brown, Simon Hamilton), Pindar (Andy Richards, Andrew Fairley, Dave Richards) and Slam (Grant Rollerson, Anthony Young, Tom Partington). The brand new Slam continued to show devastating speed in the building breeze to take the race from Pindar and Investec, followed in by Ronstan (Ian Turnbull, Paul Constable, Alec Mckinlay) and TMF (Jarrod Simpson, Davind Cunningham, Adam Ovington).

The fleet were then quickly dispatched for what should have been race 12, only to have a 90 degree wind shift cause the race officer to abandon the race on the final beat, much to the frustration of Pindar and Ronstan who had read the shift and were about to round the windward mark on to the home run with a large lead over the rest of the fleet when they were sent back. The fleet were then sent ashore to wait for the new breeze to settle.

After a short delay AP was dropped and the boats headed out into 8 - 10 knots of north westerly breeze and clearing skies. Race 12 got underway and it was Ronstan who got away to a clear start then headed right to lead into the windward mark, closely followed by Wild Oats Chardonnay (Howie Hamlin, Mike Martin and Paul Adam), Yandoo Ssangyong (John Winning, David Gibson, Andrew Hay) and Gill/Wet & Wild (Ed Browne, Mark Tait, Mark Addison). Ronstan followed by  Gill/Wet & Wild gybe set to make the most of the continued wind swing and took a clear lead to the leeward mark which they held to the finish in an increasingly one sided race. Slam got the best results of the day adding a third to their first in the previous race and cementing their place at the top of the leader board. Pindar continued their very consistent form with a fourth and Investec took fifth. The fleet were then sent ashore to await the onset of a forecast mistral wind.

Day six dawned with the mistral in full effect. An 18 knot breeze in the early morning had built to 23 knots by midday and by the time the fleet were due to start the committee boat was unable to lay the start line due to its anchor dragging in the two metre swells and steady 25 knot wind, so racing was abandoned despite the eagerness of at least some of the fleet to try out their small rigs.

So with 12 races sailed and a potential 3 or 4 to sail on the final day all is still to play for for the 18ft Skiff European International  Championship title. Only 9 points separate the top three boats in what has been a very hotly competed regatta. In all seven teams have counted at least one race win and neither of the two  previous JJ Giltinan Championship winners competing, Howie Hamlin on Wild Oats Chardonnay or John Winning on Yandoo Ssangyong, are currently on the podium.

Results

1st        Slam (AUS) 30pts

2nd Pindar (GBR) 36 pts

3rd Ronstan (GBR) 39 pts

4th Yandoo Ssangyong (AUS) 42pts

5th Wild Oats Chardonnay (US) 43pts

 7 races over the last two days have tested all the teams, both physically and mentally with breeze as varying from 6-12 knots, and temperatures on the beach nearing the mid 30oCs. Tuesday racing started promptly on time, surprising a few teams who started late. Yandoo Sanyong made the most of this with the first race win of their series, while Ronstan put in another consistent result in second to keep them well up the overall leaderboard. Investec Private Bank (Mason Woodworth, GBR) finally showed some of their pre-season form by finishing 3rd. The next three races were sailed in challenging shifty breezes with most of the crews powered up and three wiring in the 6-10 knots. SLAM (AUS) put in the best show across those races with a 4,1,1 taking them into the lead overall. Yandoo Sanyong consolidated their second overall with a consistent 5,3,4. The only other teams to post any sort of consistency were Wild Oats Chardonnay (USA) with a 3,2,6 and Pindar (GBR) with a 6,7,3. Most of the rest of the teams vying for the top half of the leaderboard took some heavy scores trying to make their way through the maze of shifts during the day.

Wednesday looked much more promising on the breeze front, and the race committee wisely had chosen to use the lay day to catch up on the race schedule lost early in the week. Pindar came to the fore in the 12-14 knot breeze having found exactly the right settings and tactics to pick their way through the fleet and dominate the days proceedings with a 1,1,2 scoreline, with only SLAM coming close to match that consistency with 2,7,4. PICA (GBR) looked to have found their form as well with initially a 4,2 however a 10th place in the final race of the day slowed their progress up the leaderboard. GP Covers (DEN) finally showed some of the previous years pace in the heavier breeze by taking the final race win however an 8,6 earlier in the day kept them in mid table overall.

So going into day 5, the leaderboard has closed up considerably with 5 teams within 8 pts of each other after 10 races in total. With another 12 races potentially over the next three days its all to play for.

Results (10 races, 2 discards, 18 starters):

1st SLAM (AUS)        26pts

2nd Yandoo Sangyong (AUS) 26pts

3rd Pindar (GBR) 30pts

4th Wild Oats Chardonnay (USA) 31pts

5th Ronstan (GBR) 34pts

6th TMF (GBR) 40 pts

7th PICA (GBR) 46pts

8th GP Covers (DEN) 47 pts

9th Bodotex (DEN) 60pts

10th Gill Wet and Wild (GBR) 65pts

The 2008 European International Championships is now underway in Six Fours, France. Here are reports from days 1 & 2 with photos from Christophe Favreau.

Day 1  

The 2008 European International Championship for 18ft skiffs got underway today in Six Fours, just down the road from Hyeres in the South of France, launching from the dramatically  named Brutal Beach. The Championships is one of three key events, along with the North American Championships and the JJ Giltinan in Sydney that determine the class' global ranking. So the European fleet was joined by a number of travellers from Australia and the US. Also joining the fleet although not competing was the Swiss Mirabaud foiling skiff, trying out its performance against its conventional peers.  

The first day and Brutal Beach was definitely not living up to its name. A light sea breeze and baking hot 30+ temperature on the water  was the order of the day - in short fairly typical Mediterranean conditions. Still the 19 boat fleet fleet left the shore in a steady 8-10 knot breeze, just enough to get the crews fully out on their trapezes. The first race got underway promptly and with a slightly port biased line it was previous JJ Giltinan Champion, Californian  Howie Hamlin with Mike Martin and Paul Adam on Wild Oats Chardonnay who got the best of the bunch towards the pin end and quickly established a lead on the short first beat. despite having been in a container from Australia since February Wild Oats sailed the race with almost clinical precision to lead from start to finish. They were followed for most of the race  by another previous JJ Giltinan Championship winner, Australian John Winning with David Gibson and Andrew Hay on Yandoo Ssangyong who was just taken on the final run by the first British boat TMF, the newest addition to the UK fleet competing in Europe for the first time helmed by Jarrod Simpson with David Cunningham and Adam Ovington. Ronstan UK (Ian Turnbull, Paul Constable and Alec Mckinlay) made steady progress through the fleet after a mid fleet start to take fourth and the Danish team Bodotex (Jesper Broendum, Jan Saugman and Martin Friderichsen) looked fast in the light conditions to take fifth. 

Race two got underway in similar conditions, although with signs the breeze was starting to fade slightly. Again Howie Hamlin on Wild Oats Chardonnay got the best of the start and rounded the windward mark first followed by a bunch that included Bodotex, TMF, the Hungarian Liberty Sailing team (Miklos Uzhelyi-Gaspak, Zsombor Szepfy and Matyas Majthenzi) and Ronstan UK. Over the following laps Ronstan were able to move through the group to be right on Wild Oats transom by the final leeward mark and in the fading breeze were able to find a little extra pressure to the left of the course to cross Wild Oats at the top of the final beat and hold that lead till the finish. Bodotex held on for third place, the consistent TMF took fourth and the Hungarian team took fifth.

Day 2 

 The second day started breathlessly calm and hot. Although a light sea breeze set in the committee kept the fleet ashore a full two hours in the hope the breeze would build. However, the wind did not climb much over five knots and the committee eventually sent the fleet afloat in the hope of at least getting a race in.  

In the light and fitful sea breeze once again it was Howie Hamlin's Wild Oats Chardonnay who lead the fleet around the windward mark, followed by Yandoo Ssangyong, then Grant Rollerson, Anthony Young and Cam Macdonald on the brand new Slam skiff and a group of three UK skiffs, headed by Gill/Wet & Wild sailed for the day by Mark Addison with Mark Tait and Penny Hooper, then Andy Richards, Andrew Fairley and Dave Richards on Pindar and TMF. Slam took the lead on the first run and were never challenged, Yandoo Ssangyong held on for second and Pindar worked clear o the next group to take third. Gill, Wet and Wild took fourth but were later penalised for not signing on and TMF came in 5th. Wild Oats had an uncharacteristically bad day and slipped back to ninth, loosing their overnight lead in the process to Ronstan UK who came home sixth and are now tied on 11 points for the lead with TMF, but have the advantage of a race win. With the breeze again dropping the fleet were then sent back to the beach after what had been a frustrating and trying days sailing for most.

After 3 races (no discard)

1 Ronstan UK - Ian Turnbull (GBR) 11pts

2 TMF - Jarrod Simpson (GBR) 11pts

3  Wild Oats Chardonnay - Howie Hamlin (USA) 12 pts

4 Slam - Grant Rollerson (AUS) 14pts

5 Yandoo Ssangyong - John Winning (AUS) 15pts

18ft Skiffs

Club Championship – Race 15

Sunday, 16 March 2008

Sydney Harbour

Fiat, with replacement skipper Trevor Barnabas at the helm, scored an easy victory in Race 15 of the Australian 18 Footers League Club Championship, which brought the Sydney Harbour 2007-2008 season to a close today.

Barnabas, with his son Trent on the sheet and Paul Atkins in the bow led all the way before going on to an easy 4mins 30secs win from Asko Appliances (Chris Dixon), with Club Marine (Tim Webster) a further 42secs back in third place..

While today’s race belonged entirely to Fiat, victory overall in the Club Championship went to Seve Jarvin, Sam Newton and Robert Bell in Gotta Love It 7 whose consistency gave them their fourth championship win of the season.

The young crew have previously won the NSW, Australian and Giltinan championships before today.

Final points in the Club Championship show Gotta Love It 7 on 47 points, followed by Fiat on 65, Rag & Famish Hotel (John Harris) on 74, Ssangyong Yandoo (John Winning) 93, Asko Appliances 99 and Omega Smeg on 101.

For today’s race the crews were split with their choice of rigs for the light north-east conditions prevailing before the start.

Fiat’s big rig enabled the Barnabas-led team to dominate the first windward beat to the Beashel Buoy where Fiat led by one minute.

Keith Piggin Estate Agents (Tony Hannan) was in second place, closely followed by Asko Appliances, Gotta Love It 7, Thurlow Fisher (Sean Langman), Kinder Caring Home Nursing (Brett Van Munster), Club Marine and Omega Smeg (Graham Turner).

Fiat was dominating the fleet and increased her lead over the downwind legs then back upwind to the Beashel Buoy, where the lead had doubled.

Asko held off challengers on the downwind legs but she also started to dominate on the second windward beat.

Gotta Love It 7 was beginning to struggle under her smaller #2 rig while Kinder Caring Home Nursing, Ssangyong Yandoo and Club Marine were beginning to make forward progress.

After two laps of the three lap course, Fiat’s lead was out to three minutes over Asko with Kinder Caring another 45secs back in third place.

A group of challengers including Ssangyong Yandoo, Club Marine, Thurlow Fisher and Omega Smeg were in hot pursuit.

Over the concluding lap, Fiat totally dominated the race before crossing for their easy win.

This concludes a successful 2007-2008 Season and we now look forward to an even bigger 2008-2009.

Today result sheet and final pointscores are attached and photographs will be published on www.18footers.com.au.

Frank Quealey

Australian 18 Footers League

18ft Skiffs

Queen of the Harbour

Sunday, 9 March 2008

Sydney Harbour

The annual Queen of the Harbour was held on Sydney Harbour yesterday and was won by Club Marine, skippered by Adam Beashel and the new “Queen of the Harbour” is 11-years-old Jaimee Robinson.

Club Marine, with Jaimee aboard, won the race by 2mins 58secs from Southern Cross Constructions, skippered by Chris Pomfret with Alice Mc Clure their “queen”.

Third placing went to Asko Appliances, Hugh Stodart and Rebecca Lee, which finished a further 1min 14secs back.

Due to a restricted harbour access in the afternoon, our race was sailed at midday over the North-East course.

Frank Quealey

Australian 18 Footers League

Race 14

Australian 18 Footers League Club Championship

Sunday, 2 March 2008

Sydney Harbour

Following the intensive campaign of the JJ Giltinan Championship last week, there were many skipper and crew changes for Race 14 of the Australian 18 Footers League Club Championship on Sydney Harbour today.

These changes, along with a totally unpredictable light SSE wind, produced a tough race and one where many positional changes occurred throughout.

In the end, Kinder Caring Home Nursing, skippered by Brett Van Munster, took line honours by1min 27sesc from Fiat, skippered today by regular sheet hand Aaron Links.

Omega Smeg, also skippered by a replacement – Jim Kerrison, was a further 1min 20sesc back in third place.

Today’s win was Van Munster’s first across-the-line victory since joining the 18s with a rookie crew last season, and a turnaround from last Sunday’s final race of the Giltinan when Fiat had a 1sec win over Kinder Caring.

Fiat had led for the entire course but Links was denied a win at his first attempt of skippering an 18ft skiff when Fiat capsized as she approached the final rounding mark.

Kinder Caring, which had chased Fiat throughout the race, pounced on the lead and held on easily over the final leg of the course for a comfortable win.

Giltinan champion and club championship points leader Gotta Love It 7 (Seve Jarvin) was on the wrong side of many wind shifts and finished in ninth place – more than seven minutes from the winner.

With just one more race to be sailed in the championship (Sunday, 16 March) and no discards applying for the series, Gotta Love It 7 has a total of 57 points lost, ahead of Fiat on 64 points, Rag & Famish Hotel (John Harris) 67, Ssangyong Yandoo (John Winning) 89, Omega Smeg 95 and Asko Appliances (Hugh Stodart) on 97 points.

Gotta Love It 7 won the start today at the pin end of the line but Fiat held a 30secs lead over 7 at the windward mark after sailing to the RHS of the course and to the west of Shark Island.

Fisher & Paykel (Andrew Cuddihy) and Kinder Caring were together, followed by Omega Smeg and Panasonic (Jonathan Whitty), which had followed Fiat to the RHS.

A tight spinnaker run from Rose Bay to Robertson Point provided spectators with an exciting spectacle.

Fiat extended her lead to 45secs over Gotta Love It 7 , but the margin was down to just 15secs at Clarke Island.

The next spinnaker run from Clarke Island to Chowder Bay produced plenty of problems for all teams as they battled wind shifts and holes in the wind.

Fiat almost capsized twice but maintained her lead.  Kinder Caring outsailed the rest and moved into second place ahead of Gotta Love It 7, Fisher & Paykel, Asko Appliances, Rag & Famish and Omega Smeg.

The two leaders dominated the fleet over the Rose Bay-Taylor Bay-Rose Bay “loop” with Fiat holding a 10secs margin as they began the spinnaker run.

Fiat looked to have the race in her keeping before the capsize, but it was a rewarding win for the Kinder Caring crew who have made dramatic progress since their 18ft Skiff debut at the beginning of the 2006-2007 season.