Wild Rides In OZ at the JJ's!!!

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Thurlow Fisher Lawyers won Race 3 of the Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship on Sydney Harbour today, but the other winners were those lucky spectators on the harbor who witnessed two great crews tame the elements in a wonderful sailing display.

Michael Coxon, Aaron Links and Trent Barnabas on Thurlow Fisher Lawyers and Seve Jarvin, Sam Newton and Scott Babbage on Gotta Love It 7 were superb in the 25-knot (gusting to 27 knots) Southerly wind which tested the skills of every competitor in the regatta.






After more than one hour of sailing in such conditions, Thurlow Fisher crossed the finish line just 8s ahead of Gotta Love It 7.

Smeg (Nick Press, Dan Phillips and Dave Ewings) were never too far from the lead and finished a further 1m26s back in third place. The strong wind took a heavy toll on the fleet with only 16 boats completing the course. Some even failed to make the start. Incidents during the race are also likely to lead to several protests being lodged so all progress pointscores are provisional at this stage. There are at least five protests, which will all be heard tomorrow morning.







Gotta Love It 7 has four points, followed by Thurlow Fisher Lawyers on 12, Smeg on 14, Mojo Wine (Archie Massey) on 15, Rag & Famish Hotel (Jack Macartney) on 15 and Smeg on 16. At the first windward mark Gotta Love It 7 led by 10s from Thurlow Fisher, with Rag & Famish Hotel third and US champion Howie Hamlin (CST Composites) in fourth place. The spinnaker run to Obelisk was sensational with the skiffs ‘flying’ down the harbor ahead of the strong southerly wind. 7 extended their lead over Thurlow Fisher to 30s while The Rag and CST held their positions ahead of Smeg, NZ’s C-Tech (Alex Vallings), Yandoo (John Winning), Mojo Wine and Appliancesonline.com.au (Micah Lane).






The two leaders edged further ahead of the fleet over the next two legs of the course and gave a thrilling exhibition on the two sail reach to the bottom mark. At one point, Thurlow Fisher Lawyers was practically airborne as she chased the flying red ‘7’.

7’s lead was down to just 10s as the pair headed for Clarke Island, but a shock came over the lead when Gotta Love It 7 unaccountably capsized on a wind to leave Thurlow with the lead. Despite another great challenge from the 7 crew, Thurlows team were great under pressure and provided spectators with an exciting finish. One incident under protest involved the leading US and New Zealand teams of CST Composites and C-Tech, which collided on the second spinnaker run to Obelisk.


More images will be published on www.18footers.com.au and www.flying18s.com.

Video coverage of the race can also be seen on www.18footerstv.com.


All images © Frank Quealy

Australian 18 Footers League
www.18footers.com.au
www.flying18s.com

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Aerial images © Andrea Francolini

[ninerslr]

That was one hell of a wild day, yesterday. The clearing breeze was out of the South and South-East as a cutoff low formed off the coast and compressed the gradient right through Sydney. There was one squall that came through that was blowing water up off the tops of the wind chop. I guessed mid 30's. We just felt lucky we were going upwind when it hit. The two boats who were on the run in front of us got cartwheeled down the course. I still have a little adrenaline thinking about that race!

Thanks for the posts, PB. It's great to get some coverage for the west coast fleet. Chad has put together a pretty significant list of NorCal competitors for the 2012 St. FYC event in August. Some great sailors and quite a few boats from SF and there are several containers from NZ and Oz that have agreed to come up.

After hearing the way the Kiwi's talk about the SF regatta, the Marina District is officially put on notice...

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Winning Appliances JJ Giltinan 2012, heat 7 another win for 7....The A team, with Jarvin, Babbage, and Newton brought the "Red Rocket", Gotta Luv it 7 home for their 6th bullet to complete their total domination of the 2012 JJ. The B team, Michael Coxon, Aaron Links, and Ironman Trent Barnabus, Thurlow Fisher Lawyers, finally nailed second overall, with their hard fought 2nd place yesterday. Trent, with his left leg badly swollen and in obvious pain, stoically battled in the bow against the challengers, Appliances on LIne and then Mojo Wine, who crossed in third place to Mica Lane's guys. This torrid contest, held all the spectator's interest throughout as 7 sailed serenely away to JJ Giltinan glory.

Iain Murray talks to Mark Heeley - Winning Appliances JJ Giltinan 2012