 Sunday, 7 December 2008Â
 Sydney Harbour
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 Former Giltinan champion Euan Mc Nicol scored his first win since returning to the 18ft Skiffs this season when he piloted Southern Cross Constructions to victory in Race 5 of the NSW Championship today.
 Mc Nicol, along with two other former Giltinan champions Trent Barnabas and Aaron Links gave an outstanding performance to defeat Rag & Famish Hotel (John Harris) by 1m 14s.
 Despite their second placing today, the Rag & Famish team retain the overall lead in the championship.
 Third today, and second overall, was the defending champion Gotta Love It 7 (Seve Jarvin), which finished 44s behind The Rag.
 A 18-20knot Southerly breeze greeted the fleet in the early stages and saw the rookie team on Asko Appliances , headed by Evan Walker, take the lead at the windward mark.
 Kinder Caring Home Nursing (Brett Van Munster) was 12s back in second place, followed by DeLonghi (Simon Nearn), Southern Cross Constructions, Active Air-2UE (Matthew Searle), Omega Smeg (Daniel Phillips) and Gotta Love It 7, which was 50s behind the leader.
The tight spinnaker run from Clarke Island to Obelisk Bay saw the experience of the Southern Cross crew come to the fore when they grabbed the lead from Gotta Love It 7 and Asko.
 The two leaders eased away from the youngsters in Asko but Rag & Famish started to move through the fleet into third place.
 At the Shark Island mark Southern Cross led Gotta Love It 7 by 12s while Rag & Famish was another 1m back in third place, ahead of Asko, Active Air-2UE and Pure Blonde (James Francis).
 Southern Cross Constructions eased away over the next two legs of the course and was never threatened for victory while The Rag moved up to seriously challenge 7.
 With the breeze beginning to ease, The Rag took second place from Gotta Love It 7 and Asko with the rest of the fleet a further one minute back.
 Positions remained fairly unchanged over the later stages of the course with Asko finishing fourth behind the placegetters, followed by Active Air-2UE and Pure Blonde.
 The re-sail of the postponed Race 3 will be sailed next Sunday to complete the first major regatta of the season.
Video coverage can be seen on www.sailcam.tv.
 Frank Quealey
 Australian 18 Footers League
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