State Championships and Interclub Races 2008-09
Upper Harbour Championship - 11th October 2008
| Skiff | Scratch | Handicap |
| Garde | 1 | 2 |
| Gemmell Sails | 2 | 6 |
| Yabba Dabba | 3 | 5 |
| Gizmo | 4 | 4 |
| O | 5 | 8 |
| Foxy Lady Too | 6 | 1 |
| At Call powered by Bainbridge International | 7 | 7 |
| Andrew Short Marine | 8 | 3 |
| Hey Charger! | 9 | 9 |
| Vantage Real Estate | 10 | 10 |
| Space junk | 11 | 11 |
| CST Composites | DNF | DNF |
| Hood | DNF | DNF |
| Club Buggery | DNF | DNF |
| Sirromett Wines | DNF | DNF |
| Blockbuster | DNF | DNF |
| 24/7 Pest Control | DNS | DNS |
| Thistle Hill Wines | DNS | DNS |
| Dipolar Software | DNS | DNS |
| Kiroshi | DNS | DNS |
| The Boat & Yacht Store | DNS | DNS |
| Woof | DNS | DNS |
| www.skiff.org.au | DNS | DNS |
| Cunning Stunts | DNS | DNS |
There was much talk in the park prior to the start of the upper harbour championship about the new Lane Cove North East course, and its extreme length.
The crews would soon find out just how long, as they set off on that course in a 12knot NE’er for the first interclub championship of the season.
Garde jumped to an early lead on the work out of the river, but was soon swallowed up by Gemmell Sails, O and a flying Andrew Short Marine (Michael Spies and Damien Vlotman). Clarke Point proved a challenge for most of the skiffs bound for an earlier than normal sceptical island mark rounding which saw many position changes. Gemmell Sails came out shinning, and then extended her lead after picking a northerly shift on the work to Manns Point, which most of the other crews missed. The tussle for 2nd to 6th place was a close encounter between several skiffs, now including Gizmo and Dimension Polyant (Nick Press and Brad Yabsley).
Gemmell Sails rounded Manns and then Spectacle Island with a comfortable lead from Garde, who was just hanging onto 2nd from Gizmo and Andrew Short Marine. The latter two skiffs had a coming together soon after rounding spectacle island, leaving both further down the leader board.
This allowed O and Dimension Polyant to move into 3rd and 4th respectfully, and just when Dimension began applying pressure for 3rd place, O made an uncharacteristic mistake through a tack and ended up in the water.
Garde closed the gap on Gemmell sails up the next work, only to have her sneak away again on the two sail reach to Cove St. The shorter work back up to Manns was enough for Garde to again catch Gemmell, and overtake her just before turning at the top mark. Garde extended the lead over the next lap and a half of the course, and held on through humbug to take the race by 5 minutes from Gemmell Sails. Dimension Polyant hung on for 3rd.
Handicap honours went too Foxy Lady Too, with Garde 2nd and Andrew Short Marine 3rd.
The next interclub championship is at Abbotsford 12ft Skiff Sailing Club, who will host the Parramatta River Championship on Sunday 2nd November.
Skiff-Ed