Report by Paul Newman
Matthias Houvenagel wins the Australian National Championship with Robert Richardson winning the Pre-Worlds
This year’s Australian Nationals was also the Pre-Worlds practice races for all the competitors competing in the ACO 14th Musto Skiff World Championship in Sydney, Australia. The racing schedule for the Australian Nationals was held over 2 days with just 4 races in the series.
Races 1 and 2 were sailed in a medium-strength southerly, which is a fairly non-typical breeze direction for Sydney Harbour. This caused the course to be set further down towards the Bridge, with the start near Athol Beach and the top marks in Double Bay. The shifty and gusty southerly provided some interesting racing and plenty of position changes, with Rob Richardson making the best of it to take the win in the first race, with Eddie Bridle in second and Jono Neate in third.
Race 2 saw similar conditions with Andy Tarboton working his way through the snakes and ladders to take the win, closely followed by Rob in second and Matthias Houvenagel in third.
Day 2 saw a cloudy day with a light to medium easterly forecast. Race 3 was started on a heavily pin biased line, with a clean start. The fleet headed towards Bradleys Head before working their way up past Shark Island to the top mark. Matthias took the win in race 3, closely followed by Rob and Eddie.
Race 4 saw a slightly stronger breeze, and with the boat end-biased start line, the fleet was a bit eager and caused a general recall. We still didn’t get away clean the second time either, with 3 boats being penalised for starting early, but the race was underway, and we headed off up the harbour again. Eddie took the win with Casey Bates in second and Andy in third.
The Pre-Worlds racing was dominated by a strong international contingent taking out the top 3 places in the Pre-Worlds with Robert Richardson (GBR) in first, Eddie Bridle (GBR) in second, and Andy Tarboton (RSA) in third.
The results for the Australian Nationals saw Matthias Houvenagel take the title win in first place, followed by Jono Neate in second and Jon Newman in third.
Results for the Pre-Worlds races: https://www.woollahrasailingclub.org.au/series/10551
Results for the Australian National Championships:
| Place | Entrant | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total |
| 1 | Matthias Houvenagel | 2 | 1 | 1 | `3 | 4 |
| 2 | Jono Neate | 1 | 3 | `3 | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | Jon Newman | 3 | 4 | 2 | `OCS | 9 |
| 4 | Casey Bates | 6 | `6 | 5 | 1 | 12 |
| 5 | Marcus Hamilton | `11 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 15 |
| 6 | Wayne Bates | 5 | `7 | 6 | 4 | 15 |
| 7 | Ben Austin | 4 | 9 | `10 | 8 | 21 |
| 8 | Josh Sloman | 8 | 8 | `11 | 5 | 21 |
| 9 | Hayden Brown | DNF | 5 | `DNF | 6 | 23 |
| 10 | Paul Newman | DNF | `DNF | 7 | 7 | 26 |
| 11 | Robin Dayes | 9 | 11 | 8 | `11 | 28 |
| 12 | Steve Wilson | 7 | `DNF | 12 | 10 | 29 |
| 13 | Chris Bick | 10 | 10 | 9 | `12 | 29 |
| 14 | Max Mckay | DNF | DNF | DNF | `DNF | 54 |
| 15 | David Taylor | DNC | `DNC | DNF | DNF | 54 |
| 16 | Micheal Berryman | DNC | `DNC | DNF | DNC | 54 |
| 17 | Sam Backwell | DNF | DNF | DNC | `DNC | 54 |
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Instagram: #mustoskiffint
Article links:
- Musto Skiff website: https://mustoskiff.com/
- Woollahra Sailing Club website: https://www.woollahrasailingclub.org.au
- Musto Skiff 2025 Worlds Event Guide: https://mustoskiff.com/2025-worlds/
- ACO website: https://www.aco.com/en/
- Musto website: http://www.musto.com/
- Ovington Boats website: http://www.ovingtonboats.com/
About the Musto Skiff 2025 Worlds
The ACO 14th Musto Skiff World Championship 2025 is being hosted at Woollahra Sailing Club in Sydney, Australia, from 2nd to 10th January 2025. The 2025 Worlds is supported by the main sponsor, ACO, in addition to supporting sponsor J&J Robertson and Sons, in partnership with ANJ Container Services, and event partners Musto, Ovington Boats, and the B14 Class, who are hosting their own World Championship during the same event week.
More event information: https://mustoskiff.com/2025-worlds/
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