Andoo team sets pace 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 6, 2022) – The Andoo team of Seve Jarvin, Matt Stenta and Sam Newton consolidated yesterday’s victory with another outstanding performance to take out today’s Race 2 of the 2022 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship on Sydney Harbour.

The Australian team grabbed an early lead in the 20-knot Southerly wind and led clearly around the entire course before going on to claim a one minute win from the Tech2 team of Jack Macartney, Charlie Wyatt and Lewis Brake, which also finished in second place yesterday.

Noakesailing (Sean Langman, Ed Powys and Josh Porebski) finished a further 3m13s behind Tech2 in third place, ahead of The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines (Aron Everett), Rag & Famish Hotel (Harry Price) and Lazarus Capital Partners (Marcus Ashley-Jones).

After the first two races, 7-time JJ winner Javin and the Andoo team leads the championship with a total of two points, followed by Tech2 on four points. Rag & Famish Hotel (Harry Price, Josh McKnight and Harry Hall) is in third place on nine points, followed by the defending champion Smeg team (Michael Coxon) and The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines on 15 points.

Shaw and Partners Financial Services (Steve Thomas and Lazarus Capital Partners are equal sixth on 16 points.

Shortly after the start of today’s race a heavy rain shower brought extremely low visibility on the harbour as the fleet raced under spinnakers from Clark Island to Obelisk Bay.

Once the shower cleared, and the visibility returned, as the fleet made its way back on the beat to the Rose Bay mark Andoo had established a big break over her nearest challengers, which were Tech2, Noakesailing, The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines, Lazarus Capital Partners and Rag & Famish Hotel.

While most of the positions remained unchanged over the second lap of the course, the spectacle of speed and crew work on the skiffs was enough to keep spectators’ interest high as the skiffs completed the long course in just over 1 hour 14 minutes.

With just three legs of the course left to sail, the Tech2 team refused to surrender meekly and put as much pressure on Andoo as possible and for a short time looked as though it could have been a closer margin at the finish.

Special mention must be given to the performances of many of the younger/new teams in the fleet and it will be interesting to watch the continued improvement over the next two days racing over the shorter courses.

Races 3 and 4 will be sailed on Sydney Harbour on March 8 with Races 5 and 6 on March 9, before long course racing resumes on March 10.

The handicap section of today’s race was won by the Noakes Youth team of Tom Cunich, Fynn Sprott and Harry Smith.

Race 2 results – Cumulative results – Facebook

The 2022 JJ Giltinan Championship will be sailed on Sydney Harbour, from March 5-13.

Race dates are:
March 5 – Race 1
March 6 – Race 2
March 8 – Races 3, 4
March 9 – Races 5, 6
March 10 – Race 7
March 12 – Race 8
March 13 – Race 9

Source: Frank Quealey, Australian 18 Footers League Ltd.