18 FOOT SKIFF / AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIP / RESULTS- HEAT 2

by Leigh Maloney on 27 Nov 2000 In a spectacular display of sailing on Sydney Harbour, Matt Felton's
MICROSOFT VISIO 2000 took out the 2nd Heat of the Computer Associates
Australian 18-foot skiff Championship today.

The fresh 20-25 knot NE saw capsizes galore as the skiffs flew across the
Harbour under clear blue skies, testing crews as they fought for position.

Felton, at 22, the youngest skipper in the fleet, ably guided his crew
Forwardhand Ben Felton and Sheethand Tristan Hamilton to a 13 second win
over John Winning's AMP CENTREPOINT.

The victory gave Felton his first win in his 3 years of 18-footer racing,
and it puts him in 2nd place on the points table behind Winning.

>From a clean start, Michael Coxon's SUNDAY TELEGRAPH led at the first mark
from AVAYA (Peter Morrison), COMPUTER ASSOCIATES (Alistair Saunders) and
MICROSOFT. By the end of the first lap, John Winning on AMP CENTREPOINT
had taken the lead, with MICROSOFT, RAG & FAMISH, COMPUTER ASSOCIATES and
OMEGA SMEG bunched at the head of the 21-boat fleet.

But by the second rounding of the windward mark, Felton had steered
MICROSOFT from behind to take the lead and was never headed. Winning on
AMP got within a few boat lengths and it looked like his experience might
win through, but Felton's rookie crew never gave up and once they cleared
the windward mark, they pushed all the right angles with faultless
spinnaker work to hold on to cross the line 13 seconds ahead of AMP
CENTREPOINT. RAG & FAMISH HOTEL came in 3rd and Trevor Barnabas' OMEGA
SMEG 4th.

Winning's victory in Heat 1 of the Championships combined with his second
placing today, gives AMP CENTREPOINT the current points lead on 3 points,
with MICROSOFT in second placing overall on 8 points, OMEGA SMEG 11, RAG &
FAMISH HOTEL 17.4 and TEAM PATERSON 23.7.

Four heats remain in the National title, with racing Saturday and Sunday
over the next two weekends.


RESULTS:

1: MICROSOFT VISIO 2000 / Matt Felton
2: AMP CENTREPOINT / John Winning
3: RAG & FAMISH HOTEL / John Harris
4: OMEGA SMEG / Trevor Barnabas
5: COMPUTER ASSOCIATES / Alistair Saunders
6: GOFISH / Graham Turner
7: AVAYA COMMUNICATION / Peter Morrison
8: SUNDAY TELEGRAPH / Michael Coxon
9: BELL PARTNERS / Malcolm Page
10: VERTICAL MARKETS / Gary Phillips
11: EXPRESS POST / Hugh Stodart
12: TEAM PATERSON / Greg Paterson
13: PLAYSTATION / Toby Whitfield
14: SP SYSTEMS-TEAM ALFA / Tim Webster
15: SPORTS ILLUSTRATED / Andrew Stabback
16: CCA / Richard Dooley
17: TYRRELLS WINES / David Lumb
18: TEAM PEBERDY / Mike Peberdy
19: SP SYSTEMS-TEAM KIA / Justin Steel

DNS: BIG FOOT
DNF: TOTAL RECALL; BLUES POINT

Progressive Points:
1: AMP CENTREPOINT / 3 POINTS
2: MICROSOFT / 8 POINTS
3: OMEGA SMEG / 11 POINTS
4: RAG & FAMISH HOTEL / 17.4 POINTS
5: TEAM PATERSON / 23.7
6: SUNDAY TELEGRAPH / 24