| Glen Stanaway 13/11/2005
Only six seconds separated the winning
18 footer from second place in the Sydney Flying Squadron’s
handicap event on the weekend.
It was a handicap start for the
18 foot skiffs on a spectacular day that was sunny with
light to medium breezes. John Kelly and his crew of
Daniel Farley (sheet) and a newcomer Scott Shearer (bowman)
on Sign-a-Rama started the fleet and sailed well enough
to hold out from Chris Kameen on Austar.
Both boats had learned from prior
races the importance of keeping clear of the busy traffic
on Sydney Harbour, and how critical it is to sail these
skiffs at full throttle.
Avaya (Michael Rynan) also applied
a similar principle managing to pass Macquarie (Michael
McKensey), Frame Group (Craig Doran) and Intercall (Lea
Sitja) on the first lap of the race. There was a possibility
that Avaya may have caught Austar on the last leg of
the race, but a poor spinnaker set on their part combined
with Austar picking an excellent wind shift, allowed
Chris Kameen to open a significant gap between himself
and the third placed Avaya.
For John Kelly on Sign-a-Rama there
was no looking back though. His main concern was keeping
in clear air and staying free of traffic. The tactical
decision was made to not worry about defensively covering
the faster Austar, but to simply make sure they picked
the best route through the busy waterway and get to
the finish with minimum interference. It was a tactic
that worked, with Sign-a-Rama scraping home for a 6
second win.
Even with second place, Kameen was
ecstatic with his own team’s performance. This
is Kameen’s first season helming the tough 18s
and to get a sniff of success is a great motivator.
Fellow Englishman aboard, David Rogers and local Sam
Jackson were both equally pleased with the result and
consider it a sign of things to come.
Another exciting part of the race
took place between some of the mid fleet skiffs, with
Dinghy Solutions (Richard Scarr), Ella Bache (Adrian
Dunphy) and Sydney Star Accommodation (Michael Boyd)
all caught in a fierce tactical battle. For a large
part of the second downwind leg all three were within
meters of each other whilst under spinnaker making passing
and maneuvers very difficult. In addition to the risk
of collision, it would have been disastrous to any of
the skiffs in that pack if they had to do a penalty
turn for breaking a rule.
It wasn’t until the final
windward leg that Sydney Star Accommodation managed
to break free from the group. And it was largely misfortune
with traffic that caused Dinghy Solutions to fall away.
A series of incidents involving
ferries, tourist cruises and pleasure craft spoiled
Dinghy Solutions windward speed and many skiffs passed
by. Ella Bache, Frame Group and Synergy all slipped
past whilst Richard Scarr wondered how it was he got
caught up with the on-water traffic congestion.
It was an unfortunate finish to
his race as he had earlier displayed terrific upwind
speed and his young crew of Mike Chidgey (19, on sheet)
and Sebastian Maxwell-Williams (15, as bowman) were
excelling in a class typically dominated by seasoned
sailors.
Sydney Flying Squadron 18 Foot Skiffs
Spring Series Heat 8 Rod Walker & Mark Foy Trophies
1. Sign-a-Rama (J Kelly)
2. Austar (C Kameen)
3. Avaya (M Rynan)
4. Sydney Star Accommodation (M Boyd)
5. Ella Bache (A Dunphy)
6. Frame Group (C Doran)
7. Synergy! (M Carter)
8. Dinghy Solutions (R Scarr)
9. Macquarie (M McKensey)
10. Intercall (L Sitja)
11. Wentworth Courier Sydney Weekly (I Pretty, did not
start)
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