JJ Giltinan preview

We look at the form for next week's 18ft Skiff World Championship

The effective world championship for the 18ft skiff class, the JJ Giltinan Trophy, kicks off this weekend in Sydney Harbour. Racing will take place from 3-11 January with lay days on Monday, 5 and Friday, 9 January.

22 skiffs are currently entered in the Trophy from seven different countries.

Favourite for the event many feel is the British RMW Marine team led by Rob Greenhalgh. The yellow boat should have won last year with a race to spare and this year they will be looking to turn around their previous bad fortune.

Numbers from the UK may be down this year with Jarrod Simpson's posse the only other team from Blighty, but the fleet is slightly more international than previous years with Kiwi round the world sailor Phil Airey on Nuplex

American Howie Hamlin in comparison is back to defend his the title which he has won for the last two years. Instead of racing General Electric, this time Hamlin will be sailing West Marine. Once again Hamlin will be racing with his 505 crew Mike Martin and Andy Zinn.

The majority of entries in the JJ Giltinan are from Australia. One of the favourites from Aus must be John Harris' team on Rag and Famish Hotel. "I think we're a contender, but it will be very close," Harris, winner of the skiff's recent NSW championship, told thedailysail. "I guess there were only a handful of points in that regatta and throwing Howie and the English boys into the mix, it is only going to get harder."

This will be Harris' eighth season in the class and they have a new MacConaghy-build hull this year which has a few minor modifications to the sail handling gear such as the fitting of a gnav. "We're not 100% confident with our little rig yet, we've only really raced with it twice, so there is a bit more tuning still to go," added Harris.

This season will be the swansong for veteran and five time winner Trevor Barnabas. "This is my last season. I did say that 10-15 years ago, but this is it," he confirmed. "We seem to be going alright. We've got a new headsail and spinnaker. We broke our mast at the end of last season. This is a new mast, so we're trying to get used to that. Hopefully we'll be back on the pace and be able to challenge RMW." RMW he sees as the major threat this year, following their performance at the Giltinan in 2003 and in Europe this year. "We've got to beat them. We can't let a pom win!"

Another with a new boat and the potential to win is John Winning on Yandoo. "I like to think we're in with a chance," Winning told thedailysail. "It worries me, because I'm not sure how fast we are all going. We won't really know until we get RMW and the Yanks out there to find out how quick we are."

Entries

1	Rag & Famish Hotel	John Harris	Australia
2	Yandoo	John Winning	Australia
3	Omega Smeg	Trevor Barnabas	Australia
4	Maytag	Tony Hannan	Australia
5	Casio Seapathfinder	Michael Coxon	Australia
6	Asko Appliances	Hugh Stodart	Australia
7	Computer Associates	Anthony Young	Australia
8	Fisher & Paykel	Grant Rollerson	Australia
9	Club Marine	Warwick Rooklyn	Australia
10	CST Composites	Chris Dixon	Australia
11	Sunrise	Clynton Wade-Lehman	South Africa
12	Avaya	Peter Morrison	Australia
13	Churchill's Sports Bar	Ben Austin	Australia
14	Rosemount	Micah Lane	Australia
15	Australia 18Ft League	Chris Pomfret	Australia
16	West Marine	Howie Hamlin	USA
17	Aristocrat	Patrick Whitmarsh	USA
18	RMW Marine	Rob Greenhalgh	GBR
19	Panasonic	Jarrod Simpson	GBR
20	Nuplex	Phil Airey	NZ
21	Team Canada	Fred Eaton	Canada
22	General Electric	Mike Keser	Germany