Skiffs in San Francisco

Organiser Howie Hamlin reports on a brisk series

The World Tour of 18ft Skiffs came to St.Francis Yacht Club last week. This small band of sailors hold claim to 10 World Championships in 505s, International 14s, 29ers and 18ft Skiffs.

Nine races were sailed in lively 18-25 knot conditions. With starts, finishes and mid-course gates set 100ft from the St Francis Yacht Club bar, the spectators could feel the adrenalin directly

Fresh from their International 14ft World Championship win, the highly polished works team of the RMW Marine team, Rob Greenhalgh and Dan Johnson sailing with Sam Gardner won the event with dominating speed. In second was West Marine with reigning World Champions Howie Hamlin and Mike Martin sailing with Andy Zinn. In third was 2000 World Champions, Yandoo with John Winning, Geoff and Euan McNicol.

As part of the series, The Bridge to Bridge Race from the Golden Gate Bridge to the San Francisco Bay Bridge was the ultimate downwind grudge match against the fastest monohull craft in the world. Withkite boards, sailboards and the 18ft skiffs all in the same race it looked like a circus act. In 15-20 knots of wind a new record was set of 16 minutes and 36 seconds. Only seconds apart, the first three to finish were diverse - a sailboard, followed by 18ft Skiff then a kite. Very interesting.

Newcomers Ryan Cox (1995 College Sailor of the Year) with his Navy Seal teammate Carl Smit said; "18s are more scary than Navy Seal duty and the wipeouts are like driving your car into a wall without your seatbelt on".

Results

Pos	Boat	Skipper	Crew	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	Tot
1	RMW Marine	Robert Greenhalgh	Dan Johnson	Sam Gardner	1	*11	1	1	1	1	1	1	*11	7
2	West Marine	Howard Hamlin	Mike Martin	Andy Zinn	2	*11	*11	3	2	3	4	3	1	18
3	Yandoo	John Winning	Euan McNicol	Geoff Beauchor	*11	2	2	2	3	8	2	2	*11	21
4	Total Recall	Tony Hannan	Camera MacDonald	Jonny Meers	3	1	3	*5	5	2	5	*6	4	23
5	Omega Smeg	Trevor Barnabas	Trent Barnabas	Darren	*11	3	*5	4	4	4	3	4	2	24
6	Twin Wells	Patrick Whitmarsh	Paul Allen	Chad Freitas	6	4	4	*7	6	5	*8	5	3	33
7	Fisher & Paykel	Grant Rollerson	Paul Williams	Glen Raffael	*11	*11	11	6	9	6	6	7	5	50
8	Canada 1	Fred Eaton	Jason Lemieux	Gordon Coox	5	*11	6	9	8	9	7	9	*11	53
9	Flawless	Soldano Paolo	Mauro Galante	Pietro Zucchetti	4	*11	7	8	7	7	*11	11	11	55
10	Emery Worldwide	Ryan Cox	Carl Smit	Will Graves	7	*11	8	*11	11	11	9	11	11	68