Gotta Love It 7. Image copyright Frank Quealey.
by Frank Quealey
Race 2 of the SP-HighModulus Australian 18ft Skiff Championship gave the defending champions Seve Jarvin, Sam Newton and Tom Clout their second win of the series when they brought Gotta Love It 7 home a narrow winner over Rag & Famish Hotel on Sydney Harbour today.
Gotta Love It 7 had to withstand a strong finish by John Harris, Peter Harris and Scott Babbage in Rag & Famish Hotel to win by just 15s.
Third place went to NSW champions Michael Coxon, Aaron Links and Trent Barnabas, who finished a further 7s back in Thurlow Fisher Lawyers.
Appliancesonline.com.au (John Winning Jr.) finished fourth ahead of Pure Blonde (James Francis) and Smeg (Hugh Stodart, replacing Nick Press).
Rag & Famish. Image copyright Frank Quealey.
Gotta Love It 7 leads the series on 2 points, followed by Thurlow Fisher Lawyers on 6 points, Smeg on 8, Rag & Famish Hotel 11, Appliancesonline.com.au 12 and Yandoo (John Winning) 12.
With a 15-18knot South-East wind prevailing, the fleet again elected to use their smaller No. 2 rigs.
John Winning Jr. won the start in Appliancesonline and quickly settled into a match race with Gotta Love It 7 as they raced to the windward mark in Rose Bay where appliancesonline led by just 5s.
AppliancesOnline.com and Gotta Love It 7. Image copyright Frank Quealey.
Michael Coxon decided to take Thurlow Fisher Lawyers to the western side of Shark Island but had to settle for fifth place.
The spinnaker run from Rose Bay to Robertson Point was very tight and made more difficult when a coincided with a Manly Ferry run.
Gotta Love It 7’s crew won the day and led appliancesonline by 10s at the bottom mark.
Thurlow Fisher Lawyers moved up to third, ahead of Smeg and Pure Blonde.
Thurlow Fisher Lawyers. Image copyright Frank Quealey.
A change came over the lead on the work back to the Clarke Island mark.
Appliancesonline tacked shortly after rounding the Robertson Point buoy and was again in the lead when she met with Gotta Love It 7.
Rag & Famish Hotel and Smeg had sailed further to the right and benefitted from a good angle as they approached Clarke Island.
Appliancesonline was the leader but Rag & Famish had moved into second place just ahead of Gotta Love It 7, Smeg and Thurlow Fisher Lawyers.
Gotta Love It 7 was displaying good boat speed to regain the lead on the run to Chowder Bay, and despite a strong finish by Rag & Famish Hotel and Thurlow Fisher Lawyers, was never in real danger of defeat.
Aussie 18 Foot Skiffs
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