16 & 13 Foot Skiff National Championships

The skiff nationals were held at Belmont 16ft Skiff Club last week, on the beautiful waters of Lake Macquarie. The series threw up a range of different conditions for our sailors, from strong north-easterlies and light to moderate easterlies, to gusty and shifty westerlies in near-40 degree heat – all followed by a cool southerly change for the last race that produced top-end big rig conditions.

The championship was hotly contested over 9 heats with just one drop. A fleet of 73 16ft skiffs and 33 13ft skiffs meant there were over 100 boats on the racetrack at times (making for a very nervous downwind whenever the crews found themselves on port…). One simple mistake would cost at least 10 boats, and with so many slick boats and crews on the water, a finish in the top half of the fleet meant a pretty good day.

Three of our six 16ft skiffs travelled down for the series. Our top performing boat (and top Qld boat) was recent State title winners SMH (Aidan Geck, Will Turner and David Mckay), who finished in 24^th place overall, and 8^th on handicap. Their scratch results across the series included a very impressive 11^th and 15^th. I’m sure the team are thankful to shore crew Steve Geck, who provided an in-depth wind forecast assessment before each race.

Damen SMH (Carlton Smith, Kye Hawgood and Zane Hawgood) were the second Qld boat, finished in 27^th place. Their best results included a 20^th and 21^st in two of the heats, with some bad luck in a couple of the other races pushing them down the leaderboard. An excellent result to finish well above the mid-fleet benchmark, especially since they are sailing a different boat (thanks to Geoff Hawgood, also there as shore crew) and with limited time together as a crew in the lead up to the championships.
Ted Racing (Lauren Thorburn, Mick White and Chris Gregg) had even less time together before the championships, having only sailed together as a team twice. While showing promise in some races, some bad luck and untimely swims meant their best race result was a 45^th. Bad luck too for the skipper, with Lauren sustaining a decent knock to the elbow in Heat 5 which put her out of action for a few days – fortunately, there was a spare Geck on hand to fill in. Lily did a commendable job, though gear failure resulted in a couple of DNFs for the score card. They finished in 63^rd overall.

Well done to our friends from Darling Point Sailing Squadron, with Coates Queensland (Ben Franklin, Adrian Manning and Angus Morrison) finishing in 28^th overall (with top heat results including a 10^th, 12^th and 15^th); and Pipes to Pavements (Max Yoshida, Dan Jack and Keith Jones) finishing in 43^rd overall, with top race results including a 20^th and 22^nd.

In the 13ft skiffs, the efforts of the skiff association (and especially our club member Jordi Oakley) in getting a 13s training program up and running paid dividends. Albert Smith Signs (Morgan Oakley and Blake White) finished a highly commendable 18th overall, with their best results including an 11^th and two 15^th places. The boys also took out second place on Handicap for the series.

Our all-female team in Arris (Sophie Anderson and Lana Oakley) showed incredible determination, dealing with gear breakages, their light crew weight in the gusty conditions, and some bad luck in the last heat. They finished a very respectable 27^th place, with their best results including a 19^th and 21^st.
Congratulations to the national champions, Bosker Build in the 16ft skiffs, skippered by Sarah Lee; and Harken in the 13ft skiffs, skippered by Heidi Bates. This is the second win for each of these talented skippers.