State Championships and Interclub Races 2007-08
State Championships Round up
The NSW State Titles were held over two weekends from the 27th November. They were held at three tremendous sailing clubs, all with their own distinct character and wonderful histories. The three venues provided three distinct styles of racing, with the tight river racing of Abbotsford, the tactical Upper Harbour of Lane Cove and the space of Sydney Harbour from the Sydney Flying Squadron.
The series was sailed in predominantly light breezes. Luckily, the Lane Cove and Abbotsford races were sailed at the top end of big rig, with more than enough breeze for some great rides and fast racing.
The boys that turned up at Lane Cove for the first day of racing would have been forgiven for turning around and going home, given the rain and the light and variable breeze. Luckily though the sun came out and when we rounded the corner into humbug we were greeted with a Sou-Easter that sent more than a few big-rigs inside out.
To say that Murray Press and Ben Gemmell led out of Humbug would not do justice to what had occurred. The race out of the river had been pretty tight. Michael Spies in Sirromet led the way until their decision to pop a spinnaker in the variable conditions ended in a capsize. I didn’t really notice Gemmell Sails separate from the pack but as the fleet rounded into Humbug, we did get to see Murray round Valentia Street and set off to Goat Island. Our good friend Daylight was second, third and fighting it out with Garde and O for forth.
There were some close battles and usual Lane Cove moments throughout the fleet. Unit realised that a 12 under kite can accelerate quite quickly as he was thrown of the back of Thistle Hill Wines before realising that Lane Cove will also give you the gust that will take steal you 4 places back. Thistle Hill would finish 4th.
Murray and Ben actually had to fight a little in the end. Jono and Rich in O used a bit of nous and maybe a bit of luck to really close the gap on Murray and give the Accountant a bit of fright. They held the lead to take the win. O was second from Brett and Alex in Garde, 3rd.
With the dieing breeze of Saturday, we were all a bit apprehensive about what lay ahead for Abbotsford on Sunday. The forecast was predicting light winds from everywhere, or Code Flag Sausage. Who would have guessed that a couple of us would be seriously considering 2nd rig.
It was a lovely big rig though with some really nice kite rides, seriously close racing and an upwind nose dive that proved the Parramatta River is not that deep.
We know that not the whole fleet appreciates the work that can be involved in river racing but watching the fleet charge past the club with kites up as they did in race two is a brilliant sight and one unique to 12ft skiff racing.
The first race of the day was held on the Easterly course and would provide a taste of things to come. O and Garde dealt with challengers like Gemmell Sails and ACPBBI in the handy breeze. O would eventually win the race that was quite long for a short course.
ACPBBI is the Stevenson and Greenrod ship, now called At Call Powered by Bainbridge International. www.skiff.org.au has nothing against Bainbridge and is happy to publicise their name, I just think that Greenrod’s boat name is a bit long and I can’t be bothered typing it that often.
Short course number 2 switched to the Nor-East course. The tough start was won by Dipolar but could be remembered by some for a rather amusing upwind nose dive. If you didn’t see it, it didn’t happen but a boat was on port and had to duck Gemmell Sails and duck them in a hurry. Massive bare away, slightly over-ragged big sail with plenty of vang meant that the rudder ended up about 12 feet in the air and the mud in the end of the spinnaker pole could be used for scientific analysis.
Garde picked up a good shift off the rowing club to make up for a slightly off start. They were just ahead of O round the top mark and finished that way. Gemmell Sails stayed well in the hunt for the overall with another third and ACPBBI forth again.
The fleet headed down to the Sydney Flying Squadron for the critical heat 4. We packed our Big Rigs in the boat, got all dressed up and drifted. After floating round for a little bit and watching the fleet of historicals go where the tide told them to, we decided we were a little bit too cool for the party and went home… well we went to the club anyway as most of us weren’t expected home until 6.30.
The final Sunday was D-Day then. The breeze was a bit soft and the harbour a little busy but that just made for tight racing. The river boys were left a little behind as Garde, Gizmo and O led on their home waters. Garde managed to stay on the right side of the shifts in a very close race that saw boats lose handfuls of places if they got stuck on the wrong side of a Sou-East shift.
Gizmo snuck in to second for their best result in the series and O kept it tight grabbing third.
I’m not sure if Brett or Jono spent the brief break in between races doing maths. I suppose Jono just figured he had to win to have a chance of winning the series and I suppose Brett and AJ might have worked out that they should stay ahead of Jono.
This was not the queue for some classic America’s Cup tactical racing though. Garde certainly went about things the right way by getting a reasonable start and rounding the top mark ahead. The breeze was playing a few tricks though and there were now decent shifts coming out of the North that made our kite runs a bit tighter (and a bit more fun.)
O wasn’t giving up without a fight and Jono and Rich hit the right shift at the right time to round the top mark first for the last time. They negotiated the very tight kite run from Shark Island to Kurraba Point and crossed the line first. Garde was second and Gizmo third.
No one could celebrate at the time as no one was quite sure who had won. It would take 12ft Skiff Chief Scientist Dr Bradley Greenrod and a whole heap of people standing around, pointing at him, whilst eating sausages and drinking draught for us to know.
Of course there is no point building tension as we know that Jono and Rich in O are the NSW State Champions on the strength of their result in the last race. Brett Hobson in Garde were 2nd and Lane Cove’s Murray and Ben in Gemmell Sails were third.
The SFS kept the results going with Dipolar (Ed Blackman and Paul Carpenter) taking the Handicap prize from Vantage Real Estate and www.skiff.org.au.
Skiff-Ed