March 17, 2019

18Footers Queen of the Harbour 2019

2019 QUEEN OF THE HARBOUR

Sunday, 17 March 2019

Sydney Harbour

Corinne Feldman today became the 2019 18ft Skiff Queen of Sydney Harbour when she teamed with Jack Sprague, Tim Narborough and her son, Josh Feldman on Dal Zotto to win the Australian 18 Footers League’s time-honoured Queen of the Harbour race.

The annual race, which was first sailed at the Sydney Flying Squadron in 1912, is sailed with each skiff including one female member of the crew.

Dal Zotto took out today’s race by 41s from Appliancesonline.com.au (Brett Van Munster, Cassy Kowaltze), with Vintec (Kirk Mitchell, Emma Harrison) a further 11s back in third place.

Quality Marine Clothing (Yvette Heritage, Emma Sills) finished in fourth place, followed by Rag & Famish Hotel (Bryce Edwards, Keats Thomson) and Ilve (Jonathan Whitty, Claire Kowaltze)

The 2019 race was sailed in a 12-15 knot WSW breeze over a two-lap windward-return course, which started in Rose Bay.

Following a morning of continual rain and low visibility, as the race began, the rain stopped and the visibility improved. Most teams elected to go with their big #1 rigs while a few preferred to go with the smaller #2 rig.

After an even start, Vintec soon grabbed the lead and led the fleet to the first windward mark ahead of Dal Zotto, Yandoo (John Winning, Helen Springer) and Quality Marine Clothing.

Positions remained relatively unchanged on the spinnaker run back to the bottom mark south of Shark Island, although Appliancesonline.com.au was beginning to make a move on the leaders.

On the second windward beat, Yandoo, with her #2 rig, was unable to keep pace with the bigger rigs in the leading group and dropped back a little, while the Dal Zotto team took advantage of a more favourable 3-buoy mark to take the lead from Vintec and Quality Marine Clothing.

A shift in the wind direction meant that the run back to the finish was far different to the first lap as the teams had to gybe a number of times before the finish.

Appliancesonline.com.au finished strongly but Dal Zotto’s team were faultless and never looked likely to lose.

The race also marked the end of the 2018-2019 Australian 18 Footers League Season.

Racing in the 2019-2020 Season will commence early in October.

March 10, 2019

2019 JJ Giltinan Championship, Race 9

18ft Skiffs

2019 JJ Giltinan Championship, Race 9

Sponsored by The Winning Group

Sunday, 10 March 2019

Sydney Harbour

Today’s racing sponsored by The Kitchen Maker-Caesarstone

New Zealand’s Honda Marine 18ft Skiff team of David McDiarmid, Matt Steven and Brad Collins became the Winning Group 2019 JJ Giltinan champions today, when they successfully defended the title they won last year on Sydney Harbour.

Honda Marine completed the regatta with an incredible score of 13 points, which was made up of five wins, two second placings, and one fourth placing.

After a last race battle, second placing overall in the championship, finally went to Winning Group (John Winning Jr., Seve Jarvin, Sam Newton) on 26.6, followed by Smeg (Michael Coxon, Ricky Bridge, Mike McKensey) on 30.

Fourth place in the championship went to ASCC (Josh Porebski, Jack Simpson, Dave Hazard) with a total of 33 points, followed by Asko Appliances (James Dorron, Harry Bethwaite, Trent Barnabas) on 39, and Finport Finance (Keagan York, Matt Stenta, Charlie Gundy) on 57 points.

Not content to sit on the fact that the championship had already been decided yesterday, Honda Marine came from behind ASCC over the final lap of the course to win the last race of the championship on Sydney Harbour today.

ASCC led from midway down the first spinnaker leg and looked a likely race winner, but the incredible Honda Marine team finished too strongly to take out the race by 33s from ASCC.

Finport Finance finished in third place, a further 1m46s behind ASCC, followed by Winning Group, Smeg and Bing Lee (Micah Lee).

Honda Marine led Finport Finance by 12s at the top mark, followed by ASCC, Noakesailing (Sean Langman), Bing Lee, Winning Group, Asko Appliances, The Kitchen Maker-Caesarstone (Jordan Girdis), Yandoo (John Winning) and Smeg.

ASCC then dominated the downwind leg to the south end of Shark Island, then the run to the bottom mark off Clark Island.

Honda Marine was still ahead of Finport Finance, with Winning Group fourth, followed by Smeg, Noakesailing, and Bing Lee.

Over the second lap of the course, the two New Zealand teams continued to lead the fleet as ASCC led clearly from Honda Marine, while Finport Finance, Winning Group and Smeg were close together and battling to become the second and third teams on the podium.

It was on the final windward leg when Honda Marine made their challenge to ASCC and the two great teams turned for home with just two boat length between them.

Live streaming of the club’s 18ft Skiff racing is available on 18FootersTV

March 9, 2019

2019 JJ Giltinan Championship, Race 8

18ft Skiffs

2019 JJ Giltinan Championship, Race 8

Sponsored by The Winning Group

Saturday, 9 March 2019

Sydney Harbour

Today’s racing sponsored by Smeg

The New Zealand champion ASCC team of Josh Porebski, Jack Simpson, Dave Hazard, produced a brilliant performance to win Race 8 of the Winning Group 2019 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship on Sydney Harbour.

Despite the brilliance of the ASCC victory, the defending champion Honda Marine team (David McDiarmid, Matt Steven, Brad Collins) sealed the overall championship victory with an amazing 17 points (15 points, net) from the eight races sailed to date.

ASCC won the start and quickly dominated the fleet, in the light South wind, to lead by 45s after a short beat across the harbour to the windward mark off Clark Island.

The skill of the ASCC team was on display throughout the race as each challenge was repelled before ASCC crossed the finish line 2m3s ahead of Honda Marine, with Finport Finance (Keagan York, Matt Stenta, Charlie Gundy) just 6s further back in third place.

The consistent Winning Group (John Winning Jr.) finished in fourth place, followed by the Australian champion Asko Appliances (James Dorron), and Smeg (Michael Coxon).

With only tomorrow’s race still to be sailed to complete the championship, Honda Marine leads with a net 15 points, followed by Winning Group on 22, Smeg on 25, ASCC 31, Asko Appliances 32, and Finport Finance on 53 points.

ASCC maintained the lead on the long spinnaker run to the Obelisk Bay mark, ahead of Honda Marine, Asko Appliances, Finport Finance, Winning Group, C-Tech (Alex Vallings), Vintec (Kirk Mitchell), Birkenhead Point Marina (Marcus Ashley-Jones) and Brisbane 18s (Dave Hayter).

The long work back from Obelisk to Rose Bay produced a close battle in the leading group but the ASCC crew were always in control and maintained a 40s advantage over Honda Marine. Finport Finance was now in third place, however Finport was more than 2m behind the leader.

Positions at the front of the fleet didn’t change over the next two legs of the course before Finport Finance made a move which saw her trail ASCC by just a couple of boat-lengths on the second run to Obelisk.

Once again the skills of the ASCC crew was evident as they held off both Finport Finance and Honda Marine and still led by 15s after the fleet reached the Rose Bay mark.

The battle between Honda Marine and Finport Finance continued over the final two legs of the course but ASCC was in a race of her own as she powered away for a great victory.

Early wind predictions for tomorrow are for 18-20 knot NE winds which should some of the most spectacular racing of the entire championship.

The Winning Group 2019 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship concludes tomorrow, Sunday, March 10

The club will have TWO SPECTATOR FERRIES following the racing.

The ferries will be leaving Double Bay Public Wharf

Those wanting to go on the ferries to view the racing should make sure they don’t leave it too late to purchase their tickets

For those who can’t make it onto the water:

Live streaming is available on 18FootersTV

March 7, 2019

2019 JJ Giltinan Championship, Races 6 & 7

18ft Skiffs

2019 JJ Giltinan Championship, Races 6 & 7

Sponsored by The Winning Group

Thursday, 7 March 2019

Sydney Harbour

Today’s racing sponsored by Asko Appliances

The New Zealand 18ft Skiff teams ASCC and Honda Marine shared the honours with comfortable wins in Races 6 and 7 on Day 5 of the Winning Group 2019 JJ Giltinan Championship on Sydney Harbour today.

ASCC (Josh Porebski, Jack Simpson, Dave Hazard), the current NZ champion, easily won the first race of the day, then defending JJ Giltinan champion Honda Marine (David McDiarmid, Matthew Steven, Brad Collins) won the latter race.

With just two more races to be sailed in the championship over the weekend, Honda Marine has a net score of 10 points, and a discard of only 4 points, and holds a strong grip on the title.

Conditions were far from perfect as a light, shifting SE breeze, which faded a little over the day, made things difficult for all teams.

In today’s first race, ASCC dominated the latter half of the race to go on to a 2m13s win over the early race leader Asko Appliances (James Dorron, Harry Bethwaite, Trent Barnabas), with Winning Group (John Winning Jr., Seve Jarvin, Sam Newton) just 12s further back in third place.

Honda Marine tightened the grip on the trophy in Race 7 when the team produced an unbelievable recovery to defeat ASCC by 17s, with the consistent Winning Group another 1m19s back in third place.

Progress Net points with only two more races left in the regatta show Honda Marine on 10 points, Winning Group on 18 points, Smeg 19, Asko Appliances 27, ASCC on 30, and Bing Lee (Micah Lane) on 47 points.

The day started well enough for the Australians as Asko Appliances held the lead over the first half of Race 6, but was unable to hold off the ASCC challenge when the two teams chose to go opposite ways (around Shark Island) to reach the top mark on lap two of the course.

There was a great (and welcomed) surprise in the latter race when Heinrich von Bayern’s German Marinepool team led the 25-boat fleet to the top mark with a 30s break over ASCC and Smeg.

Smeg was too fast downwind but the German team remained competitive to be in the top three to round the bottom mark.

The Smeg team went to the left of Shark Island on the beat back into the top mark in Rose Bay but the move didn’t pay off as the two New Zealand teams went to the right and grabbed the leading two spots, which they maintained on the run back to the finish.

It was an impressive day’s sailing by the kiwis, who proved far too good for their Australian opponents.

Racing continues on Saturday with Race 8 and concludes on Sunday afternoon when the blue ribbon will be presented to the championship winner after Race 9.

The Winning Group 2019 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship

Race dates for the remainder of the championship are:

Saturday March 9

Sunday March 10

The club will have a spectator ferry following both days’ racing, leaving Double Bay Public Wharf at 2pm.

NOTE: THERE WILL BE TWO SPECTATOR FERRIES NEXT SUNDAY MARCH 10

For those who can’t make it onto the water:

Live streaming is available on 18FootersTV

March 6, 2019

2019 JJ Giltinan Championship, Races 5 & 6

18ft Skiffs

2019 JJ Giltinan Championship, Races 5 & 6

Sponsored by The Winning Group

Wednesday, 6 March 2019

Sydney Harbour

Today’s race sponsored by Dal Zotto

With a lack of wind at the scheduled race start time, and the prediction of more wind due later in the afternoon, race officials decided to hold the teams on shore until a firm decision could be made about the day’s racing on Sydney Harbour.

When the first wind from the south came in around 2pm the decision was made by the race officials and the race got underway one-and-a-half-hours after the scheduled time.

Following a race which could best be described as ‘being in the right place at the right time’ the Honda Marine team of David McDiarmid, Matt Steven and Brad Collins crossed the finish line 1m17s ahead of Smeg, to score their third win of the regatta.

Smeg (Michael Coxon, Mike McKensey, Ricky Bridge) continued their consistent form from yesterday to take second place 43s ahead of the Asko Appliances (James Dorron, Harry Bethwaite, Trent Barnabas).

Honda Marine heads the poins table with a score of 9 points, followed by Smeg on 13 points, Winning Group (John Winning Jr.) on 16 (includes an average in Race 2), Asko Appliances on 28, ASCC (Josh Porebski)_ on 42 and Finport Finance (Keagan York) on 43.

Conditions were light as the fleet sailed from the start off Steel Point and the fleet quickly spread out as each team searched for the best conditions.

At the top mark, Winning Group led narrowly from Asko Appliances with Honda Marine in third place, followed by The Kitchen Maker-Caesarstone (Jordan Girdis), Noakesailing (Sean Langman), and Smeg.

The following leg back to the bottom mark was nothing short of crazy as Winning Group sailed into a lull off Bradleys Head and went from the lead to near last midway through the run.

As different teams found themselves in some breeze, the lead changed a number of times before Honda Marine finally reached the bottom mark 45s ahead of The Kitchen Maker-Caesarstone, with Smeg a further 15s back, followed byAsko Appliances and Winning Group.

Over the second lap of the course the breeze settled more to the SE and the Honda Marine team had little difficulty retaining the lead to score a relatively comfortable win.

Due to the conditions, race officials decided not to sail the second race, and a decision on when it will be sailed will be made tomorrow.

The Winning Group 2019 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship

Race dates for the remainder of the championship are:

Thursday March 7

Saturday March 9

Sunday March 10

The club will have a spectator ferry following each days’ racing, leaving Double Bay Public Wharf at 2pm.

NOTE: THERE WILL BE TWO SPECTATOR FERRIES NEXT SUNDAY MARCH 10

March 6, 2019

2019 JJ Giltinan Championship, Races 3 & 4

2019 JJ Giltinan Championship, Races 3 & 4

Sponsored by The Winning Group

Tuesday, 5 March 2019

Sydney Harbour

Today’s race sponsored by Quality Marine Clothing

Australia’s Smeg team of Michael Coxon, Ricky Bridge and Mike McKensey starred on Day 3 of the Winning Group 2019 JJ Giltinan Championship with a win and third placing in the two races today, to move into clear second placing after four races of the regatta.

With a perfect 19-20 knot NE breeze on Sydney Harbour, the New Zealand teams again produced some spectacular sailing to take out first and second placings in Race 3 when C-Tech (Alex Vallings, Sam Trethewey, Matt Coutts) defeated defending champion Honda Marine (David McDiarmid, Matt Steven, Brad Collins) by 10s in a thriller.

Smeg led early in the race but the skiff hit a wave, fell into a lull, and had to make a good save to stay in contention with the leading group.

The loss of momentum sent the skiff back into 7th place at the bottom mark before the team came back through the fleet to finish third, 20s behind Honda Marine.

Winning Group (John Winning Jr., Sam Newton, Seve Jarvin) held the lead at the windward mark from Smeg, C-Tech and ASCC (Josh Porebski, Jack Simpson, Dave Hazard) in Race 3, but it was the two kiwi teams, C-Tech and Honda Marine, which dominated the spinnaker run back to the bottom mark off Clark Island.

At the windward mark on the second lap, C-Tech was 15s ahead of Honda Marine, and despite a strong challenge from Honda, C-Tech held on for the narrow 10s victory.

The NE breeze freshened a couple of knots for Race 4 and the Smeg team gave the fleet no chance as the skiff raced ahead at every mark to defeat fellow Australian team, Winning Group, by 31s, with ASCC a further 12s back in third place.

Honda Marine came home in fourth place, ahead of Bing Lee (Micah Lane), Vintec (Kirk Mitchell) and Asko Appliances (James Dorron).

After being granted redress and average points for the incident in Race 2, Winning Group’s position become more complicated on the pointscore board.

The three leaders, either including, or without discard, are Honda Marine on 8 points (net 4), Smeg 11 points (net 7), and Winning Group 11.5 points (net 7.5)

With two more races to be sailed tomorrow, and a 20-knots SSE wind predicted, the racing is certain to continue to excite the spectators and the changes on the leader board could continue.

The Winning Group 2019 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship

Race dates for the remainder of the championship are:

Wednesday March 6

Thursday March 7

Saturday March 9

Sunday March 10

The club will have a spectator ferry following each days’ racing, leaving Double Bay Public Wharf at 2pm.

NOTE: THERE WILL BE TWO SPECTATOR FERRIES NEXT SUNDAY MARCH 10

For those who can’t make it onto the water:

Live streaming is available on 18FootersTV

Live streaming coverage will feature pre-race interviews, which will go to air at 2.15pm.

The full race coverage of each race will commence at 2.30pm. The coverage will feature a variety of guest commentators. Tomorrow’s guest commentator is Suellen Davies.

A full replay of each race is also shown at the same address

March 4, 2019

Race 2, Winning Group J.J. Giltinan Championship

Defending champion Honda Marine won its second race of the Winning Group 2019 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship today, after another eventful day of racing on Sydney Harbour.

After trailing Winning Group (John Winning Jr.) for half the NE course, Honda Marine (David McDiarmid, Matt Steven, Brad Collins) grabbed the lead when the Winning Group spinnaker was torn, in an incident with a yacht, and the skiff had to retire from the race.

Once in the lead, Honda Marine held a handy lead over the fleet and looked set for a good win, but Appliancesonline.com.au (Brett Van Munster, Phil Marshall, Kurt Fatouris) put in a wonderful last lap of the course to finish just 10s behind Honda Marine in a great finish for the large spectator fleet.

After a dramatic pre-race incident, Smeg (Michael Coxon, Mike McKensey, Ricky Bridge) finished third, 1m20s behind Appliancesonline.

Australian champion Asko Appliances (James Dorron) came in fourth after being well back in the fleet on the first lap of the NE course.

Simon Nearn’s R Marine Pittwater produced another excellent performance to finish in fifth place, after being with the leading group throughout the race.

Bing Lee (Micah Lane) was sixth, followed by The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines (Aron Everett), Finport Finance (Keagan York). Yandoo (John Winning) and New Zealand’s C-Tech (Alex Vallings).

With protests pending from Race 1 of the championship, and another one today by Winning Group requesting redress, the pointscore won’t become realistic until after tomorrow’s hearing.

Following Honda Marine’s impressive win in Race 1, there was an expectation that the team would again be hard to beat in relatively similar conditions, but it was the Winning Group which led the fleet from the start until the incident with the yacht.

Winning Group lead Honda Marine by 20s at the first windward mark, with Smeg, R Marine Pittwater, Bing Lee, Appliancesonline and ASCC following close behind.

At the bottom mark, Winning Group had opened up a break over the fleet while Honda Marine had dropped back to sixth place.

Honda Marine was still trailing Winning Group by 15s as the fleet had returned to the top mark, but just as the spectators were settling down to watch a great race between the two champion teams Winning Group was put out of the race.

Skipper John Winning Jr. said later; “There was a yacht under motor, we were on starboard and at the last moment the yacht turned at the last minute and we had to ‘flog’ our kite to avoid a collision. As we did that the spinnaker caught some of the rigging and it was badly torn’”

The top teams in the championship have had a dramatic start to the regatta in the first two races.

Smeg hit a moored boat on the way out to the start and hard to return to shore to make hasty repairs with the race start on 15 minutes away. With a 4-5ft piece of timber, a quick repair was made onshore and the team did remarkably well to come home in third place.

With so much depending on the protest hearings tomorrow, then Tuesday’s two races over windward-and return courses, there could be a dramatic change in the championship points.

The Winning Group 2019 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship

Race dates for the remainder of the championship are:

Tuesday March 5

Wednesday March 6

Thursday March 7

Saturday March 9

Sunday March 10

The club will have a spectator ferry following each days’ racing, leaving Double Bay Public Wharf at 2pm.

NOTE: THERE WILL BE TWO SPECTATOR FERRIES NEXT SUNDAY MARCH 10

For those who can’t make it onto the water:

Live streaming is available on 18FootersTV