As expected, the world champion Yandoo 18ft skiff team of John Winning Jr, Fang Warren and Lewis Brake continued on their winning way in Race 2 of the Australian 18 Footers League’s Club Championship series on Sydney Harbour today, but the victory was far from easy and came only over the final leg of the course.
After trailing the leader by 40 seconds at the end of the second lap, Yandoo stormed home to grab a narrow 18-second victory over Lazarus Capital Partners (Tom Cunich, Logan Radford and Jack Taylor), which had sailed an almost perfect race until the final beat to the Rose Bay weather mark.
Club Marine (Emma Rankin, Cameron Walker and Daniel Watson) led early and was always in contention throughout the race in the 12-knot shifty Easterly breeze, before coming home in third place just 2 seconds behind Lazarus.
With little between the top six finishers, Shaw and Partners Financial Services (Joel Beashel) came home in fourth place, ahead of Rag & Famish Hotel (Ben Crafoord) and Smeg (Micah Lane).
With victories in each of the first two races of the series, Yandoo leads the point scores in the Club Championship after today’s racing with a total of 2 points, followed by Smeg on 8 points. Lazarus Capital Partners, Shaw and Partners Financial Services and Rag & Famish Hotel are equal in third place with a total of 11 points.
Race 4 of the SIXT Spring Championship and Mondiale VGL Season Point Score was sailed in conjunction with today’s club championship and resulted in a victory for the Lazarus Capital Partners team, from Club Marine and the new Ocius team of Dante Olivieri, James Hodgson and Nick Rozenauers, which finished in third place.
After four races in those series, Club Marine leads the fleet on 19 points, followed by Killer Coffee Co (Ryan Ewings) on 23 points. Lazarus and The Kitchen Maker (Jordan Girdis) are equal in third place on 24 points, followed by Vaikobi (Kirk Mitchell) on 28 and Yandoo on 29.
Races 5 and 6 of the SIXT Spring Championship and the Mondiale VGL Season Point Score will be sailed next Sunday.
Today’s race started sensationally when the Australian champion Balmain (Henry Larkins) was recalled after being across the line too early.
Many teams tacked soon after the start, however, Lazarus and Club Marine both elected not to follow and reaped the benefit as they crossed the fleet, with Club Marine holding a narrow margin over Lazarus.
The pair exchanged the lead on the following two crossings, but it was Club Marine which held a narrow 10-second lead over Lazarus at the weather mark near Rose Bay. Smeg was gaining on both and held third place ahead of Shaw and Partners with Yandoo 40 seconds from the lead, in fifth place.
There was a massive change near the wing mark off Clark Island when all teams had problems trying to reach the mark while the wind gusts were driving each boat below the mark.
Smeg was better positioned and grabbed the lead from Lazarus and Club Marine, then retained a 5-second margin over Lazarus at the bottom mark off Kurraba Point. Shaw and Partners had moved up into third place just ahead of Yandoo and Club Marine.
Easterly winds on Sydney Harbour are typically unpredictable, and big leads can quickly disappear in a few minutes if the team doesn’t cover the chasers.
The Smeg team paid a big penalty when it elected not to cover, allowing Lazarus to regain a 25-second lead at the weather mark from Club Marine, Yandoo, Shaw and Partners, Rag & Famish Hotel, and Smeg, which was now relegated back into sixth place.
Lazarus was in control on the long spinnaker run back to Kurraba Point and held a 40-second advantage over Yandoo as the fleet set off back to the Rose Bay mark.
While the wind wasn’t strong, the racing was great as the four or five leading boats staged a thrilling battle which kept spectators riveted to the contest.
Unfortunately for the Lazarus team, it paid the same penalty as Smeg had on the previous lap when it chose not to cover the challengers while holding a solid lead in shifty conditions.
The champion Yandoo team was quick to pounce and crossed Lazarus as the pair approached the final mark before the run home. What looked to finally be a defeat for the champion team was soon gone, proving that every other team cannot afford one small slip-up.
Coverage of today’s race is available at 18FootersTV on the club’s website.
Source: Frank Quealey Australian 18 Footers League Ltd.
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