State Championships and Interclub Races 2007-08
Parramatta River Championship - 4th November 2007
| Skiff | Club | Skipper | Crew | Scratch Place | Handicap |
| Garde | SFS | Brett Hobson | Alex Johnson | 1 | 6 |
| Gizmo | SFS | Michael Bochner | Tim Barraclough | 2 | 8 |
| Sirromet | LC | Michael Spies | Damien Vlotman | 3 | 2 |
| Gemmell Sails | LC | Murray Press | Ben Gemmell | 4 | 10 |
| O | SFS | Jonathon Temple | Richard Jones | 5 | 12 |
| Thistle Hill Wines | SFS | Matt Killoran | Richard Johns | 6 | 7 |
| Space junk | SFS | Ben Austin | Dave Cleworth | 7 | 9 |
| At Call powered by Bainbridge International | LC | Andrew Stevenson | Brad Greenrod | 8 | 10 |
| www.skiff.org.au | LC | Ben Faulkner | Ren Holland | 9 | 1 |
| Dipolar Software | SFS | Ed Blackman | Paul Carpenter | 10 | 3 |
| The Boat & Yacht Store | ABB | Matt Peat | Grant Nicholson | 11 | 4 |
| Pink Bits | LC | Nick Bernard | Andrew O'Brien | 12 | 5 |
| Vantage Real Estate | LC | Jack Winning | Brett Phillips | 13 | 13 |
| Foxy Lady Too | LC | Peter Polec | Jamie McCrudden | 14 | 14 |
| Maersk Line | SFS | Ed Cox | Peter Bevis | DNF | DNF |
| CST Composites | SFS | Emmett Lazich | Cameron McDonald | DNS | DNS |
| Hood | LC | Graham Colless | Glen Farqhuar | DNS | DNS |
| Kiroshi | SFS | Bill Olsen | Evan Williams | DNS | DNS |
| Club Buggery | LC | Ken Williams | Mark Barraclough | DNS | DNS |
| Mischief | LC | Alsa Jeans | Ross Gage | DNS | DNS |
| Rudog | LC | Julian Moran | Jeremy Johnson | DNS | DNS |
| Snotbloo | LC | David Winning | Matthew Foy | DNS | DNS |
| Steve Jarvin Motors | LC | James Francis | Brad Phillips | DNS | DNS |
Standing atop the hill at Abbotsford, looking into the teeth of a cranking Westerly, I think we were all grateful that this was the day for the Parramatta River Championships. There were various theories from the sailing brains that gathered. My favourite was Jonathan Temple’s observation “I don’t think it’s as windy as it looks” – that helped us a lot.
The vast majority of the fleet put their third rigs in, despite some puffs looking a lot more fourth than third. Sadly though, as soon as the gun went, the breeze lost a bit of it’s grunt and a lot of it’s consistency. This didn’t mean there weren’t some brilliant rides down hill on the flat water and some scary moments with the points on the Northern side of the river.
The start was hard to judge. The boats at the committee end seemed to get the better of it off the line but shifts and differences in pressure meant you could go from first to last in the first couple of tacks. The first couple of tacks were, as usual with a river start, very interesting. I’m sure the crowd on the balcony enjoyed the “friendly requests” for water coming from the boats that started at the pin.
Brett Hobson and Alex Johnson shot out to an early lead, just ahead of early season surprise packet, Michael Spies and Damien Vlotman in Sirromet. A solid chasing pack including Michael Bochner (Gizmo), Jonathan Temple (O) and Murray Press (Gemmell Sails) set about chasing the leaders down.
It looked for a minute as we headed up the first beat that the breeze would leave us altogether but gradually lines of breeze would hit the fleet. This had the effect of squeezing the fleet back together at various stages of the race and made for some close racing, especially down hill.
Brett and Alex managed to fight for a comfortable lead out front but there was plenty of action fighting for the podium finish. Michael Bochner was able to slide into second with Michael Spies good season continuing, able to hold onto third.
A tight battle between O and Gemmell Sails, that continued through the four laps of the course, ended with Murray Press taking fourth and Jonothan Temple fifth.
The Ross Riley Trophy for handicap honours was taken by www.skiff.org.au (Ben Faulkner and Ren Holland), who stole it from Michael Spies on Sirromet. DiPolar Software, with Ed Blackman at the helm, got third.
A big thanks have to go out to all the sponsors, including GA Electrical Co Pty Ltd and Riley Family provided the Handicap Prizes, and the Posthill Family provided the Scratch Prizes. As always, thanks to Abbotsford for hosting such a good event and providing another stellar afternoon tea.
Skiff-Ed
