New race winners at JJ Giltinan

In the absence of an official world championship, the JJ Giltinan Championship is the highest honor for the 18-foot skiff class. The 2022 edition on March 5-13 brings together 25 teams on Sydney Harbor to make their mark in the 84-year history of the world’s premier 18-Footer championship.

Sydney, Australia (March 11, 2022) – Races 3 and 4 of the 2022 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship, which were unable to be sailed on March 8, were sailed today on Sydney Harbour.

In the 5-12 knot SE wind, the previous domination by the Andoo team was broken as the two races produced two new winners, namely Noakesailing and Finport Finance.

Noakesailing (Sean Langman, Ed Powys, and Josh Porebski) came from behind to take out Race 3 by 41s from Andoo (Seve Jarvin, Matt Stenta, and Sam Newton), with the early leader Lazarus Capital Partners (Marcus Ashley-Jones, Jeronimo Harrison, and Cam Gundy) a further 56s back in third place.

Tech2 (Jack Macartney) finished strongly over the final lap of the course to come home in fourth place, ahead of Fisher & Paykel (Jordan Girdis) and Shaw & Partners Financial Services (Steve Thomas).

In Race 4, Finport Finance (Keagan York, Bryce Edwards, and Phil Marshall) led for much of the race before taking the honors by 30s from Andoo with Fisher & Paykel (Jordan Girdis, Sam Monkhouse, and Nathan Edwards) a further 1m22s back in third place.

Rag & Famish Hotel (Harry Price) finished fourth followed by Tech2 and the defending champion Smeg team (Michael Coxon) in sixth place.

Following today’s two races, and allowing for each team to drop its worst performance to date in the championship, Andoo leads with a net total of 7 points, followed by Tech2 on 17, Rag & Famish Hotel on 28, Noakesailing on 39, Lazarus Capital Partners on 41, and Fisher & Paykel on 45.

In the day’s first race, Lazarus Capital Partners grabbed the early lead after choosing to sail on the eastern side of Shark Island to the windward mark,but was chased down on the spinnaker run back to the bottom mark by Noakesailing to conclude the first lap of the course.

Noakesailing was brilliant on the following beat back to the top mark and opened up a 1m5s lead over Andoo as spinnakers were set for the run to the finish.

In the later race, Finport Finance held a narrow lead after the first lap of the course then raced out to a 45s break over Andoo at the final top mark before finishing 30s ahead of the championship leader.

Handicap honours on the day went to Appliancesonline in Race 3 and Finport Finance in Race 4.

The final two races of the championship will be sailed as follows:
Race 8 – Saturday, March 12 (Big Kite Memorial Trophy)
Race 9 – Sunday, March 13

Cumulative results – Facebook – YouTube

The 2022 JJ Giltinan has a 9-race series planned for May 5-13 with the scheduled races and re-sail of any abandoned races to be sailed on March 11, 12, and 13.

Source: Frank Quealey, Australian 18 Footers League Ltd.