18 foot skiffs overpowered in tough race

A young Dinghy Solutions team with their 18 footer. Photo courtesy of Glen Stanaway

Ian Pretty on Churchill’s Sports Bar won the Sydney Flying Squadron’s 18 footer’s race on the weekend by a narrow margin over Dinghy Solutions and ING.

The race was held in strong 15 to 20 knot southerly breeze that tested the new teams with many of the race’s placing simply decided by the number of capsizes any particular boat suffered.

The team on Churchill’s Sports Bar sailed a simple strategy of staying upright and keeping clear of other traffic on the busy Sydney Harbour. Other front runners Richard Scarr on Dinghy Solutions and Chris Kameen on ING also sailed simple and relatively error free races to complete the course in second and third respectively.

Scarr on Dinghy Solutions was teamed up with young Sydney twins Michael and Samantha Chidgey, both making their debut on the 18 footers. Crew work was interesting with each tack and gybe requiring a quick discussion recapping the process they needed to execute. It may not have been pretty, but they managed to stay upright all afternoon and finish second.

ING enjoyed the presence of Sam Jackson, an experienced competitor from the 18 foot and 16 foot skiff ranks in Sydney. Jackson’s experience no doubt helping ING stay in touch with the newer and faster Churchill’s Sports Bar and Dinghy Solutions.

Unfortunately other competitors suffered on the first race of the competition by either being overpowered or under prepared for the conditions. Michael Rynan on Avaya had been training extensively over winter, however a poor sail choice put his relatively light crew under a lot of pressure and after a couple of capsizes was just out of contention for the points finishing with a fourth place.

Ella Bache sailed by club and class stalwart Adrian Dunphy managed to get through the race and finish fifth with an all new crew pulled together on the prior afternoon. Ella Bache was very nearly pulled in the under performing Starlight Accommodation skippered by Michael Boyd.

With what should have been a leading 18 footer, Boyd finished sixth after multiple capsizes and starting late. The late start was largely due to incomplete gear preparation, with the team still addressing rigging problems in the park as the majority of the fleet was starting the race.

Placings
1.	Churchill’s Sports Bar (I. Pretty)
2.	Dinghy Solutions (R. Scarr)
3.	ING (C. Kameen)
4.	Avaya (M. Rynan)
5.	Ella Bache (A. Dunphy)
6.	Starlight Accommodation (M. Boyd)
7.	Intercall (L. Sitja)
8.	Sign-a-Rama (S. Merrington)
9.	Macquarie Bank (M. Mckensey)
10.	Doyle Fraser Sails (M. Carter)
11.	Frame Group (C. Doran)

A poor start to the season and unforgivable lack of foresight for this type of sailing.

Non finishers included Macquarie Bank, Sign-a-Rama and Intercall, all of whom had new teams and were overpowered in the conditions.

The dark horse who did not start is Michael Carter on Doyle Fraser Sails. Carter did noty wish to risk damage and chose not to sail with a substitute crew, given forward hand Luca Rizotti only arrived from Italy on Saturday morning and was too jet lagged to compete.

People wanting to watch the racing can enjoy an afternoon on a spectator ferry which operates from the Sydney Flying Squadron and follows the racing each Saturday afternoon.

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