Steady development, escalating competition

Three-time 18-foot world champion Rob Brown observes the latest skiff worlds on Sydney Harbour

With one of the most dramatic comebacks in skiff racing's long history, the Australian crew of Euan McNicol, Trent Barnabas and Aaron Links, sailing Southern Cross Constructions, fought back at the very end of this year's series to become the 2009 JJ Giltinan title-holders. In a field of 32 skiffs there were six different heat winners and just five points separated the top five crews going into the final race, underlining the competitiveness of the 2009 series.

After the significant developments in sail and mast combinations over the past three years, we will seek in this article to establish the balance between technical improvement and good old-fashioned sailing skill in determining the outcome.

The race...
Let's set the scene for the last race. Sydney Harbour, sun shining and a big spectator fleet, but not much wind. In fact, a light easterly sea breeze around 4-6kt with large pressure differences and 10-20° shifts.

After a 30-minute postponement the fleet finally got away, but only a few boats had a jump at the start, mainly those who could get clear enough at the port end to quickly make it over onto port tack. Appliances Online (John Winning Jnr) made the best start to move clear of the fleet, making first use of the pressure on the right hand side of the course. Gotta Love It 7 (Seve Jarvin) also got away nicely and obviously would have been pleased to see most of his main opposition struggling to get clear of the start area – including series leader Southern Cross which was first caught up in heavy traffic and then pushed left into less pressure and more adverse current...

As the leading group moved to the right, sure enough they steadily found more pressure and less current with a nice rightie as the icing on the cake. Appliances led comfortably from Smeg (Hugh Stoddard) and Gotta Love It 7...

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