18ft skiffs: Honda Marine wins Race 1 of JJ Giltinan Trophy
by Suellen Hurling / Auckland Skiff League 15 Mar 2020 02:52 PDT
15 March 2020
Honda Marine and Shaw & Partners - 18ft Skiff - JJ Giltinan Trophy - Race 1 - March 14, 2020 - Sydney Harbour, Australia © Christophe Favreau /
www.christophefavreau.com
The Honda Marine team (Dave McDiarmid, Matt Steven, Brad Collins), who won the 2018 and 2019 JJ Giltinan 18' Skiff Championship, had a solid start to the 2020 regatta taking the first gun of the series, sailed on Sydney Harbour.
It was a soggy start to the 2020 JJ Giltinan, and the forecast was looking fresh to frightening, with the fleet opting for the number 2 rig, and some even being extra cautious sailing with a reef in the main. But while the rain set it, the breeze disappeared, and it was a flukey southerly course that would set the tone for this edition of the championship.
But it didn't come easy for the team who struggled around the course even though they had a great start after the initial general recall.
Mainsheet hand Matt said "the race felt like a scrap with very inconsistent breeze but we were happy to come out with a good result."
Helmsman Dave said "it felt like we were going around in circles, 1st, 5th, 1st, 5th, 1st, 3rd then back to 1st. Lucky for us the race finished at that point."
The youngsters on Maersk Line (Peron Pearse, Eli Liefting and Harry Clark), had an unfortunate start getting hooked on another boat, starting the race on the back foot. But that didn't stop the team from fighting their way back, and eventually they clawed their way to 13th overall, a great result in testing conditions.
Peron, who controls the fun sticks at the back of the boat said "it was a tough day to start the regatta. We got caught up with other boats in the first couple of legs but we were happy to work back into the pack by the end of the race."
18' Skiff veteran Alex Vallings and his C-Tech team, Sam Trethewey and Matt Coutts, didn't have the best start to the regatta finishing 17th.
"We were having a good race up until we decided to have a swim at the bottom mark. Oh well, it's another day of racing tomorrow!" said Alex.
For full results - Day 1 click here