It’s as intense as it is tight.
The first three heats of the NSW 16ft Championships hosted by Middle Harbour 16ft Skiff Club over the weekend told us everything and nothing about who will be crowned the best boat in the state at the end of the month.
There were three different heat winners – Manly trio Buckingham Marine Services (Daniel Turner), IMEI Barnabas Building (Joel Beashel) and Red Pumps (Tyler Dransfield) sharing a race each – over Saturday and Sunday.
Yet it was St George’s Bosker Build (Sarah Lee) which finished the weekend on top of the pointscore table without collecting a “bullet”.
Bosker opened with a sixth in a brisk nor’easter on Saturday and took second in the day’s follow-up race, shortened as a storm moved in from the west. Lee claimed another runner-up placing on Sunday to sit one point clear of defending champ Red Pumps (Tyler Dransfield) on the standings.
Imagine Signage (Nathan Wilmot) is a further point adrift in third, with IMEI and Buckingham rounding out the top five.
Pleasingly, the top 10 features a sprinkling of boats from Belmont, Manly and St George in further proof the depth in the class is growing.
The final three heats will be staged at St George on November 29-30, with one drop to be applied after five races.
It’s all set up for a mouth-watering finish, with Lee and crew Keagan York and Kurt Warner installed as slight favourites given they will be on home “turf”.
“Our goal was to get a ‘keeper’ each race. A win is always nice but you just need to be up there consistently and we achieved that,” Lee said. “We are somewhat confident going into the St George round because it’s where we won the nationals and it’s our ‘home ground’, but it’s not over yet and the points are tight.”
Lee has won a national title and club championships but is yet to add a NSW title to her increasingly impressive CV.
The Bosker skipper acknowledges her and crew will have their work cut out given there are three former state winners – Dransfield, Turner and Wilmot – along with the current national champion (Beashel) all in the mix.
Lee said: “I think everyone in the top five have already won a states and/or national title so the competition is hot. “Winning this would boost confidence going into Nationals at Belmont, which is gearing up to be extremely competitive. “States is a challenge because you compete across different locations so it can be a harder one to get consistency in your results.”
While you could throw a handkerchief over the top five boats in the 16s, the 13s is a little more cut and dried.
Two boats – Manly duo Harken (Heidi Bates/Orlando Sadlik) and Buckingham Marine (Ash Napper/Theo Frankling) – have broken away from the fleet after dominating the opening three heats.
Harken recorded two wins and a second to lead Buckingham Marine (two seconds sandwiching by a heat two win) by a solitary point.
NSW 16ft Skiff State Titles Results
NSW 13ft Skiff State Titles Results
Words Adam Lucius
Images SailMedia | Michael Chittenden
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