New South Wales
Championship
Race 3 - Sydney Harbour. |
| By Frank Quealey, the Australian 18 Footers League. |
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Photos by the Australian
18 Footers League
Page edited By Joanne Apat. |
| November 21, 2010. |
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| Defending champion Seve Jarvin took a tight grip on retaining the title when he steered Gotta Love It 7 to her third consecutive win, in Race 3 of the NSW 18ft Skiff Championship on Sydney Harbour today. Jarvin, Sam Newton and Scott Babbage trailed Thurlow Fisher Lawyers (Michael Coxon) at the end of the first lap, but dominated the fleet over the final two laps to score a 44 second win. |
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Gotta Love It 7 takes is first over the line in Race 3 of the New South
Wales Championship on Sydney Harbour.
Photo © The Australian
18 Footers League.
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Andy Budgen’s Project Racing (Sponsor Wanted) finished second with Thurlow Fisher Lawyers a further 17 seconds back in third place. Rag & Famish Hotel, skippered for the day by former Australian champion Micah Lane, finished a very good fourth ahead of Yandoo (John Winning) and Asko Appliances (Marcus Ashley-Jones).
Gotta Love It 7’s win has the skiff on three points, followed by Thurlow Fisher Lawyers on 8, Yandoo on 11, Red Claw (Matthew Searle) 14 and Rag & Famish 18. With only two more races due to be sailed in the series and one discard allowed for each skiff, it will be extremely difficult for any team to overhaul Gotta Love It 7. |
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Asko Appliances on a spinnaker run during Race 3 of the New South Wales
Championship on Sydney Harbour.
Photo © The Australian
18 Footers League.
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Soon after the start, Gotta Love It 7 opened up a break over Thurlow Fisher Lawyers, with Reg & Famish Hotel, Smeg (Nick Press) and The Kitchen Maker (Brett Van Munster) close behind. Asko also recovered from a slow start and had good boat speed on the windward leg to Beashel Buoy.
While the Gotta Love It 7 crew elected to sail a course near the northern shore, Thurlow Fisher Lawyers took a middle of the harbor line and reduced the lead to just 2 to 3 boat lengths when they met. Thurlow Fisher Lawyers grabbed the lead just before the windward mark and turned for the spinnaker run with a 10 second lead over Gotta Love It 7, with Rag & Famish Hotel a further 45 seconds back in third place. Asko Appliances was fourth, followed by Smeg and Red Claw. |
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Another yacht barges through the middle of the start of Race 3 of the
New South Wales Championship on Sydney Harbour.
Photo © The Australian
18 Footers League.
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Thurlow Fisher and Gotta Love It 7 gybed off Steel Point, while the chasing group came at a deeper angle and gained on the two leaders. The group was tightly bunched at the bottom mark where Thurlow Fisher still held a narrow lead over Gotta Love It 7, closely followed by Rag & Famish, Asko, Smeg, Red Claw, Project Racing and Yandoo.
Thurlow Fisher and Gotta Love It 7 eased away again on the next windward leg, but this time it was Gotta Love It 7 which led by 25 seconds as spinnakers were set for the following run down the middle of the course. Gotta Love It 7 gybed soon after and headed for the northern shore while Thurlow Fisher chose to go south and didn’t gybe until she was off Steel Point. The Gotta Love It 7 move proved a winner when the lead opened up to 1 minute and 25 seconds. |
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A tight spinnaker run during Race 3 of the New South Wales Championship
on Sydney Harbour.
Photo © The Australian
18 Footers League.
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It was unusual for the Thurlow Fisher team to lose so much time, but later it was discovered there was a reason, when the crew found a hat was stuck on the centerboard. Project Racing continued her move through the fleet and finally moved into second place over the final lap of the course.
Race 4 of the five race championship will be sailed next Sunday, with the last race due on Sunday, 5 December. More information and photographs can be found at www.flying18s.com and www.18footers.com.au.
Frank Quealey
Australian 18 Footers League
www.flying18s.com. |
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| Outimage and the
Australian 18 Footers League © 2010 |
