Twelve Foot Skiff Association

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Upper Harbour Championship Lane Cove
Sat 15th October 2005

The Lane Cove Interclub and first heat of the state championships saw 22 skiffs fight their way out of the Lane Cove River in an easterly breeze that spent a lot of time at the top end of big-rig. In teaming with the theme of a Sydney Easterly, it spent it's time in the Sou-East and puffed out of the Nor-East, vanished for a while and appeared to freshen every time we needed to go around a mark.

The tricks the breeze played saw leads blow out and then disappear with Michael Bochner in Gizmo and Nick Press in Yabba Dabba both building good leads, just to see them go on a shift or miracle puff for the chasing pack. The tight course and big fleet meant high-pressure racing and there were quite a few swims throughout the fleet. It also meant what felt like 783 tacks, 20 more gybes than necessary and the odd altercation with a bloke head-to-wind in a Laser.

The fleet stretched out as it left humbug, with the front group getting a break on the rest. Following a trend that Lane Cove had developed this season, boats grouped up, fighting round the course with three or four other skiffs.

The usual suspects rounded the marks first. Yabba Dabba was locked in a battle with Gizmo, O, Gemmell Sails, Garde and Dimension Polyant. It was good to see Tony Hannon and Wally Bartlet challenge the leaders early in their first appearance in the Dimension Polyant this season. Humbug brought the leaders together for a final battle down the river, a battle won by Boc and Cameron in Gizmo. Jonathan Temple and Richard Jones snuck the O into second ahead of Nick and Yabs in Yabba Dabba.

The next heat of the interclubs / states is at Abbotsford November 6.