18ft Skiff Season Point Score - Race 17

An outstanding victory by the Brisbane, Queensland GC Sails team of Scott Cunningham, Joel Turner and Dave Cunningham in the Australian 18 Footers League Season Point Score, Race 17 on Sydney Harbour today, produced an incredible record for the class as it is the first win by a Queensland team since at least the 1950s.

With two of the three crew members based in Victoria, it is certainly the only time that has ever happened in the 134-year history of 18ft skiff racing.

Strong Southerly winds forced the League to cancel the scheduled Queen of the Waves race due to 'safety reasons' as each team would have been required to include an unfamiliar extra hand in conditions above 20 knots.

As a result, the club elected to change the format for the day and changed the Point Score race into a full length Southerly course event, which proved a great success.

Soon after the start - 18ft Skiff Season Point Score race 17 - photo © SailMedia

In extremely tough conditions, GC Sails crew work was excellent, even faultless, as the three crew members worked tirelessly to beat off the early challenge, then race away from the challenging teams to record a massive 3m33s victory.

While the winner was dominant, the race for the minor placings provided spectators with a wonderful battle in the 20-knot southerly over the long harbour course.

At the finish, Lazarus Capital Partners (Tom Cunich, Marc Chapon and Jack Taylor) crossed the line in second place, 27s ahead of Vaikobi (Kirk Mitchell, Andrew Stephenson and Daniel Barnett).

After being a little late for the start, Shaw and Partners Financial Services (Keagan York) showed some good form leading into the big end-of-season championship races to finish in fourth place, ahead of an improving Smeg (Ash Rooklyn) and Sixt (Jacob Marks).

Race for the lead on the first spinnaker run - 18ft Skiff Season Point Score race 17 - photo © SailMedia

The other six teams to complete the course were, Rag & Famish Hotel (Ben Crafoord) in seventh place, ahead of Fisher & Paykel (Brett Van Munster), The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines (Hugo Stoner), Club Marine (Ema Rankin), Sotherbys-Ballard Property (Bec Hancock) and Gotcha4Life (Kade Morgan).

GC Sails grabbed the lead from the start and led by 15s at the first weather mark off Clark Island from a bunch including Yandoo, Vaikobi, Rag & Famish and Sixt as the fleet set off on the long downwind leg to Obelisk Bay.

The spinnaker rides were spectacular as the teams battled hard to clear the headlands,; when they reached the rounding mark GC's lead had been reduced to 8s by the very experience Yandoo team, with Sixt in third place ahead of Lazarus, Vaikobi, Rag & Famish, Smeg, Club Marine and Shaw and Partners.

The race for third place on the first lap - 18ft Skiff Season Point Score race 17 - photo © SailMedia

The two leaders sailed tack-for-tack on the work back to the mark off the southern end of Shark Island. GC Sails increased her lead marginally before the Yandoo team was forced to retire off the northern end of Shark Island, when a crew member injured an ankle, which left GC Sails with a lead that had blown out to 1m15s over Lazarus.

GC Sails' crew looked as though they had been sailing on Sydney Harbour all their lives as they pushed their lead out to 1m40s after the spinnaker run to Athol Bay, then to 2m30s after another superb windward performance to the weather mark off Clark Island.

Lazarus continued to hold off the challengers for second spot as Vaikobi and Sixt exchanged third and fourth placings over the next two legs of the course.

More excellent crew work on the second spinnaker run to Obelisk saw GC Sails lead extend by another 45s, to 3m15s, and all interest was now entirely focused on the remainder of podium places.

Heading for victory - 18ft Skiff Season Point Score race 17 - photo © SailMedia

With the Giltinan world Championship set to be sailed on the same harbour courses, today's hit out has certainly created tremendous interest with the strength of the Brisbane challenge and the expected strong challenges from the German and New Zealand teams.

Race 13 of the League's Club Championship will be conducted on Sydney Harbour next Sunday and will be an interesting lead up race before the Giltinan world Championship, which will be sailed over the same course from March 7-15. The League's usual spectator ferry will follow the races and SailMedia will live stream all the action with expert commentary from the course.

Race 17 Results: