Keagan York, Matt Stenta and Angus Williams took out the Major A. Frizelle Trophy 18ft Skiff race in a dramatic finish in Compassmarkets.com on Sydney Harbour today.
The Compassmarkets.com team grabbed the lead from Thurlow Fisher Lawyers (Michael Coxon, Trent Barnabas and Dave O’Connor) only 20 metres from the finish to score a 6s victory in a very light South East breeze.
Yandoo (Nick Press, Jim Beck and Cameron McDonald) was a further 1m1s back in third place.
Ilve (Ollie Hartas) finished only 2s back in fourth place, followed by Asko Appliances (Marcus Ashley-Jones) and Mojo Wine (James Ward).
The breeze for the windward-return course was extremely light and flukey, SE between 0-5 knots, and the course had to be shortened .
Compassmarkets led by 5s. from Thurlow Fisher Lawyers at the windward mark with Ilve another 40s back in third place.
Former JJ Giltinan champion Stephen Quigley was fourth, followed by Yandoo, Noakes Youth (Ash Rooklyn), Gotta Love It 7 (John Winning Jr.) and Asko Appliances.
The light breeze saw the teams take a variety of downwind courses.
At the bottom mark, Thurlow Fisher Lawyers was a narrow leader from Asko, Compass and Team Quigley.
The experienced Thurlow Fisher Lawyers team was dominant on the next windward leg and opened up a 30s break over Asko Appliances, Team Quigley and Compassmarkets.com.
With the race seemingly under control, Thurlow Fisher Lawyers missed the better breeze and was soon grabbed by Compassmarkets.
As the pair raced to the finish line only secs, separated the pair and the Compassmarkets team did slightly better in a dramatic light wind finish.
The Australian 18 Footers League staged a second short course windward-return race and Thurlow Fisher Lawyers reversed the result with a 3m52s win over Compassmarkets.com.
De’Longhi (Simon Nearn) finished 16s further back in third place.
The League will stage another two-race program next Sunday and the usual Spectator Ferry will follow the racing, leaving Double Bay Public Wharf at 2.15pm.
– Frank Quealey
