Going into this Sunday’s final race of the 18ft Skiff Spring Championship on Sydney Harbour, the title is up-for-grabs.
The veteran Yandoo team of John Winning, Mike Kennedy and Jasper Warren hold a narrow lead over the current Australian champion tech2 team of Jack Macartney, Charlie Wyatt and Lewis Brake.
Yandoo leads by just three points, but the likely outcome becomes more complicated as the two teams will sail to separate windward buoys under the 3-Buoys handicapping system being used by the Australian 18 Footers League in the seven-race series.
Tech2 won Race 4, but has to carry a 13th place from Race 5, while Yandoo has relied on consistency throughout the event to gain the lead.
The predicted 14-knot North-East wind conditions for Sunday are similar to those which prevailed in Race 1 of the series.
Nearest competition to Yandoo and tech2 is the highly experienced Smeg team of Michael Coxon, Ricky Bridge and Trent Barnabas but, as the team trails Yandoo by 12 points, victory would be very unlikely.
18ft Skiff Spring Championship – Points so far are:
1st Yandoo (John Winning) – 27 pts
2nd tech2 (Jack Macartney) – 30 pts
3rd Smeg (Michael Coxon) – 39 pts
4th Winning Group (John Winning Jr.) – 43 pts
5th Bird & Bear (Tom Clout) – 45 pts
6th Finport Finance (Keagan York) – 54 pts
7th Vintec (Tom Cunich) – 56 pts
Frank Quealey
