Sailing News

JJ Giltinan Championship: De’Longhi

The exciting world of 18ft Skiff Racing has been alive and well on Sydney Harbour for 124 years, but even the strongest of modern day sport is heavily reliant on the sponsorship dollar to maintain the quality of the competition and the level of necessary development to ensure the ongoing future.

18ft Skiff Racing was one of the early sports to introduce naming rights sponsorship to the boats.  Many of the world’s best skiffs racing on Sydney Harbour in the 1960s and 1970s carried the corporate names of some of Australia’s best known corporate and brand names.

In those days, sports sponsorship was relatively new.

In more recent times, every sport, most teams and most of each sport’s champion competitors are vying for the available corporate funding.  The 18s have been fortunate to have some very good long term sponsors who have not only supported the class with funds but have also been enthusiastic personal supporters of the racing.

One such corporate friend of the 18 Footers has been the De’Longhi Group in Australia.

Under the De’Longhi banner, the company has sponsored a number of skiffs since 2003, firstly for Grant Rollerson and later Simon Nearn.  In addition, the group has also sponsored a second skiff for three years under the Kenwood Create More banner, for Brett Van Munster.

The Groups General Manager – Sales and Marketing, Tom Mitchell has been the driving force behind the sponsorship and has taken the association between De’Longhi and the Australian 18 Footers League to a level rarely seen in sport.

Thirteen years of continuous sponsorship in the 18s is amazing, but Tom and De’Longhi have also been responsible for developing a healthy relationship with Rugby League’s famous South Sydney Rabbitohs club, which won the Australian Premiership in 2014 and was World Cup champions in 2015.

As a major sponsor of the Rabbitohs since 2008, Tom introduced the iconic ‘Rabbit’ logo and Red and Green colours to the 18s on both the De’Longhi and Kenwood Create More skiffs.

With Tom’s organisation, the Australian 18 Footers League hosted the Premiership-winning Rugby League club for three 2-hour Pre Season training sessions in the park alongside the club and family functions with the club’s playing and administrative personnel in the club’s dining room.

For the present 2015-2016 Season, Tom’s enthusiasm enlisted another ‘Rabbitoh’ sponsor to the 18s.  This time it is Alcatel, which is sponsoring 1996 JJ Giltinan champion Stephen Quigley under the Alcatel One Touch banner.

At the 2016 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship, presently being sailed on Sydney Harbour, both of ‘Tom’s boats’ are performing well and recording consistently good results in one of the most competitive fleets in the championship’s history.

De’Longhi won the Invitation Race last Friday which is a lead in to the championship then yesterday the team finished a close fifth in the 28-boat international fleet.

Australian 18 Footers League President, John Winning, said:  “Sponsorship is critical to all sporting organisations.  We are a club which is pro-active in supporting talented young sailors and have a proud record of being part of the development of Australians who have gone on to become world champions, Olympic Gold Medalists, leading international ocean racing yachtsmen and America’s Cup winners.”

“It’s companies such as De’Longhi and their administrators who have been such an important part of helping the club produce the opportunities for our young sailing talent.”

“Without the support of De’Longhi and our other sponsors much of the talent would not get the opportunity to put Australia’s name in front of the rest of the world.”

JJ Giltinan Preview: Noakes

Sean Langman, Managing Director of the Noakes Group, is one of Australia’s best known sailors/yachtsmen with a record of high achievement in numerous classes of sailing boats.

Aside from his wonderful record of achievement on the water, Sean has always been a person with a positive outlook and an ever ready willingness to assist quality young sailors in their quest to achieve results in keeping with their talent.

The 2016 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship, sponsored by appliancesonline.com.au, and sailed on Sydney Harbour from 13-21 February, is a perfect example of the Sean Langman philosophy and ability to put together a quality youth team.

Sean has always been a person to ‘put his money where his mouth is’ and has sponsored two teams which will be competing in the upcoming championship.

He will not only skipper his own brand new Noakesailing skiff, with his son Peter and Gerard Smith, but is also the sponsor of the Noakes Youth team, which will be skippered by Ash Rooklyn.

The Noakes Youth team took over the skiff which raced in the 2014-2015 Season as Thurlow Fisher Lawyers.  A few new sails and rigging were added and a group of champion young sailors were recruited for the campaign.

Ash Rooklyn, son of former 18 Footer champion and 18 Footers TV commentator Warwick Rooklyn, has previously had a few races in the 18s, but this is his first full-on campaign.

Joining Rooklyn in the crew are Daniel Nixon, also the son of a former 18 Footrer champion Kevin Nixon, in the bow and Rhys Mara on the sheet,

Before coming into the 18s, Ash was the 2011 and 2012 Australian Match Racing skipper and finished 3^rd in the 2013 Match Racing Championship.  He was also 2010 and 2011 Sail Sydney 29er champion (crew) and was 8^th at 2010/11 29er World Championships.

Daniel has had two years’ experience in the 18 Footer ranks, including several rides on the well performed Thurlow Fisher Lawyers (Michael Coxon) and Panasonic Lumix (Jonathan Whitty).  Aside from the 18s, Daniel is the Melges 24 champion at the 2012 North American, 2014 USA Corinthian, and 2015 Australian Championship.

Rhys hails from Coffs Harbour on the Mid North Coast of NSW and comes to the Noakes Youth 18s team from the 49er class.

He won the 2015 Oceania Regatta at Perth in 2015 and was ranked #1 in April 2015.  Rhys was 4^th in the 2015 ISAF World Cup (Hyeres) and 5^th in the 2015 South American Championships.  In 2014 Rhys was 7^th in the ISAF World Championships in Spain.

There has never been a doubt about the crew’s ability and it was only going to be a short time before we saw the real potential of Noakes Youth.

The first half of the season (pre-Christmas 2015) was disappointing for the young team and results were affected by some gear problems and misadventures at critical times.

While results weren’t there on paper, onlookers were impressed by the boat’s speed and the crew’s ability to match any team in the fleet at various stages of races.

The opinion was that this young team had the ‘goods’ and were going to be at, or near, the head of the fleet as they grew in confidence.

At the recently concluded Australian Championship, the confidence came to the surface and the Noakes Youth team finished fourth on 21 points (equal with third placed Triple M).  The team’s best four placings were 2x third places, fifth and tenth.

Ash Rooklyn, Daniel Nixon and Rhys Mara had not only beaten some of the biggest names in the 18 Footer fleet, but Noakes Youth was the leading boat which had not been specifically built for the 2015-2016 Season.

The first three placegetters, ahead of Noakes Youth, in the Australian Championship were Smeg (Lee Knapton), Thurlow Fisher Lawyers (Michael Coxon) and Triple M (John Sweeny).  All three skiffs were built by Van Munster Boat Builders just prior to the start of the 2015-2016 Season.

Despite the boost to confidence, Rooklyn is taking a very measured approach to the campaign. “I try to look at our first season as a progression and not perfection.  We are just taking each day and race as it comes and try to learn and takeaway as much as we can.”

“While it is a learning and evolving season, we feel if all goes well we could and would be stoked on a top 5 finish at the worlds.”

Sean Langman must feel great satisfaction to see how his young recruits have progressed and the recent results they achieved at the Australian Championship.

While Sean will obviously be looking at the Noakes Youth team’s performance at the JJs, his main focus will be on the performance of his own Noakesailing team, which has also be improving over recent weeks.

Sean took delivery of a brand new skiff for the season and was finally able to sail a competitive skiff with his son Peter.

“Peter and I sail all manner of boats together, from our 1932-built 30ft gaff cutter Maluka through to our ORMA 60 Trimaran Team Australia.  The only thing missing from our sailing was close tactical racing with the spice of speed thrown in,” Sean said.

“The 18s offer great racing and are both exhilarating and difficult to sail well.  My role with Pete and Gerard is to map out a succession plan whereby the younger men can make their way into the class.  I’m thrilled that Pate is still keen to sail with the old man.

“Our tangible goal is finishing at least mid-fleet this season and to improve as we progress through the next few seasons.

“Over recent times, Pete and I have been part of Team Australia Trimaran, which has set two world records; Sydney Hobart in 29 hours and Sydney Auckland in 2 days 19 hours.  The team has also won the coastal classic in New Zealand as well as the Brisbane Gladstone twice on line and corrected.”

Sean’s previous career highlights are Olympic Star Class Australian champion and numerous offshore line and handicap wins with Grundig and AAPT.  He also took a bronze medal at the 49er world title in 1998.

The Australian 18 Footers League’s President, John Winning said:  “Our club is very happy to see Sean back in the 18s in a competitive boat with his son Peter, and Gerard Smith, and we fully appreciate Sean’s efforts to introduce young sailors into the class as it fits perfectly with the Club’s policy of introducing young talent to the 18s to ensure the long term future.”

JJ Giltinan Preview: Lee Knapton

Many Australian 16ft Skiff champions have become highly successful 18ft Skiff sailors over the century plus history of 18 Footer Racing on Sydney Harbour, but until now no skipper has ever become both Australian 16ft Skiff champion and JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff champion in the same summer season.

In fact, only three Australian 16 Footer champions have ever gone to win the JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship.

‘Billo’ Hayward won the JJ Giltinan Championship in 1948, Ken Beashel won in 1963 and 1968, and Trevor Barnabas, who won five JJ Giltinan Championships between 1987 and 1998.

That may all be about to change at the 2016 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship, sponsored by appliancesonline.com.su, which will be sailed on Sydney Harbour 13-21 February, when Lee Knapton skippers the highly fancied Smeg team skiff after recently winning the Australian 16 Footer Championship (Bryden’s Compensation Lawyers) at Hervey Bay in December.

Knapton and his 18ft Skiff sheet hand Ricky Bridge won their fourth consecutive Australian Championship (Lee now has won eight and Ricky five Australian 16 Footer titles) in December then returned to the 18s in January and were reunited with forward hand Mike McKensey.

The trio were superb throughout the Australian 18ft Skiff Championship and had already secured the title before going into the final race of the nationals last Sunday.

The Smeg team took delivery of their new Van Munster built hull only four months ago, but the crew worked tirelessly to prepare the skiff for the NSW Championship in November-December.

A few teething problems, due to a lack of preparation time, saw the Smeg team finish a credible third behind Thurlow Fisher Lawyers and Gotta Love It 7, but showed enough potential to suggest the JJ Giltinan and Australian titles were a definite possibility.

With the Nationals now already in the bag, all eyes will be on the Smeg team at the JJs and whether Lee Knapton will create history with a unique 16 Footer-18ft Skiff double.

Obviously, if Lee become the first skipper to win both then it will also be the first skipper-crew combination, with Ricky Bridge.

Ricky said: “We would be really proud if we become the first skipper-crew combination to win the Australian 16ft Skiff and JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship in the same season, but we are not getting ahead of ourselves”.

“This year’s racing is super close and competitive and there are some talented teams who are all capable of winning”.

Ï think this year’s JJs will come down to the team who is the most consistent across the ranges”.

“We are already proud that we have won both the 16s and 18s Nationals in the one season, and to do the big double would be a great achievement”.

“We are really pleased with how the season has progressed. The support from Smeg and the Club in giving us a new kit has certainly played a big part in how we are performing on the water”.

Ït’s our second year together and our crew work as a team is getting better each week”.

Regardless of whether Smeg wins the 2016 JJGiltinan Championship, or not, much of the success will have to go to the efforts of Mike McKensey and Ricky Bridge.

Four years ago, Mike McKensey approached the Australian 18 Footers League about the management of an 18ft Skiff team, and together with Ricky Bridge has moved the campaign level to its present high standard.

Ricky encouraged his good friend Chris Nicholson to skipper Mojo Wine in the 2013-2014 Season, then last season was instrumental in engaging Lee Knapton as skipper.

Mike McKensey knows that to put a successful campaign together it needs more than just a quick boat: “A boat campaign not only brings together a crew, it brings together our families and sponsors who support us every weekend. This support is wonderful, both when we are on the water and when we come ashore. Always cheering for us and congratulating us regardless of the final result”.

There is one certainty. If the Smeg team wins the championship, the noise from the supporters will be deafening when the crew bring the skiff alongside the ferry to receive the blue ribbon.