The unstoppable pair of Nick Press and Andrew Hay (Sails Inc.) have won the NSW Upper Harbour Championship, the opening race of the 2025/2026 12 foot skiff season, sailed out of Lane Cove Sailing Club (LC12’SSC) this afternoon.
In claiming the Championship, the duo, who represent LC12’SSC, will have their names engraved on the Centenary Trophy, kindly donated by the Griffith and Langford families, in celebration of LC12’SSC’s centenary in 2018.
The day had its moments, as Press explained: “It was a comfortable 14-16 knot nor’ easter all day, but there was more north in it which made it gusty, so a bit tricky.”
Sails Inc. didn’t have it all their own way, the start belonged to Red Energy, sailed by Press’ father Murray Press and Mark Muirhead, with Sydney Sailmakers’ Josh Tasker and Brendan Jenkins in hot pursuit, followed by Sails Inc. All three are from the host club.
Sydney Sailmakers led out of the river with Red Energy and Sails Inc. trailing the leader, but it wasn’t long before Sails Inc. resumed their comfort spot at the top of the pack.
“We caught them at the bottom mark the first time,” Press confirmed. “We gybed inside them and did a good (kite) drop, the three of us literally rounding together.”
Behind the top three, Your Move Conveyancing, sailed by Dave Winning and Cam Gundy, also from the host club, stayed in touch.
Sydney Sailmakers had the misfortune of nosediving to avoid a collision with a Laser on the course and that put them back. Then Red Energy had a kite problem, “And that left us – we had a lonely race after that,” Press said after winning late this afternoon.
Behind Sails Inc, Your Move Conveyancing, Red Energy and Sydney Sailmakers swapped positions for the rest of the race in a thriller to the end. Crossing the finish line it was Sydney Sailmakers, Red Energy and Your Move Conveyancing, the latter taking out the handicap top place.
Abbotsford 12ft Sailing Club’s Peter and Steve Hill rounded out the top five on Arrogant Frog, the first non-Lane Cove sailors to finish. It was the father and son’s first sail for the year, as they have been making modifications to their skiff and today were happy with the result of their winter project.
Nick Press also pointed to “The young blokes (Huon Saul and Simon Mercer) from Abbotsford who just started sailing Hit & Run. They’re fresh to the fleet. They’ve come out of the Cherub class, bought a 12 they are doing up and did really well. I think they’ll be really good by the time the Interdominions are sailed.
“It’s good having new blood in the class,” Press ended.
Next up for the 12s is the Parramatta River Championship on 8 November, hosted by Abbotsford 12ft Sailing Club. This and the remaining events will be good tests for the upcoming 63rd Interdominion Championship, between Australia and New Zealand, to be hosted by the Australian 18 Footers League on Sydney Harbour between 3-10 January 2026.
Sponsored by triSearch, a subsidiary of InfoTrack www.trisearch.com.au, with support sponsorship from Your Move Conveyancing https://yourmoveconveyancing.com.au/ and Pete’s Home Loans www.peteshomeloans.com.au, the Interdominion is the pinnacle of 12ft skiff sailing.
For all information on the 12ft Skiff class and its events, please visit: https://www.skiff.org.au/
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Di Pearson/12ft Skiff media
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