Hamlin comes out on top

Another breezy day for the end of the 18 foot Skiff International Regatta

A day around 60 F may not have felt like summer, but it capped a good one for Howard Hamlin, Mike Martin and Trent Barnabas who sailed Pegasus White to an uneventful but successful Friday afternoon on San Francisco Bay to wrap up first place in the 18' Skiff International Regatta.

The championship followed their June victory in the European International Championship in Sardinia, giving them two of the year's three major titles in the class, next to the JJ Giltinan Trophy, the class's premier event contested annually in Australia since 1938.

Hamlin noted that their victory was tempered by the week's disaster in New Orleans that closely followed the competition's time line, day by day.

"It's nice to be able to continue our endeavor when a lot of people are in a terrible situation," he said. "Off the water it was never far from our minds. We're lucky. Those people aren't."

They won four of the ten races over five days, including first among the skiffs in the Ronstan Bridge to Bridge special Thursday, but settled for a title-clinching third in Friday's first race and a fourth in the finale, leaving them four points in front of defending champion John Winning of Australia.

Martin, of Newport Beach, Calif., said, "We did what we had to do in the first race and kind of cruised in the other race."

But he and Hamlin, of Long Beach, Calif., sensed that their intensity slipped once they put their skiff on cruise control.

"It's amazing how sloppy it gets when it doesn't matter," Martin said.

Martin is Hamlin's rival in the 505 class but has sailed all four of these events as his middle crew, and this was their first win here. Barnabas, 26, is the son of a champion, Trevor Barnabas of Australia, who retired from the class after his runner-up performance here last year.

"We aggressively recruited him," Hamlin said. "In these kinds of conditions his strength, experience and agility are really important. I don't think he ever collapsed the spinnaker in a week of sailing, which is quite an achievement for a 754-square foot sail in this venue."

With winds as strong as 25 knots, they also were the only one of nine boats to stay upright all week. Samuel (Shark) Kahn, sailing Pegasus Black with Cameron MacDonald and Paul Allen, almost made it before taking a knockdown Friday in a relatively moderate 18 knots of breeze at the last leeward mark.

"Unfortunately, we destroyed our non-swimming record today with a nice soft capsize," MacDonald said.

That happened after they won the first race by a couple of boat lengths over Jack Young's Pegasus Gold---but, ironically, slipped from third to fourth place when the second throwout kicked in with that race, allowing Peg Gold to drop nine points for a DNF and jump back into third.

But when Peg Gold capsized off Alcatraz in the last race and wound up sixth, Peg Black's third place got it back into third to stay, perhaps signaling a youth movement in a class that's been dominated by veterans. Hamlin is 52, Winning 53. Kahn turned 16 a month ago.

Early in the week Kahn said he would be happy to finish fourth. Friday he said, "I'm very happy," especially after "I did some major air time off the back when we [capsized]."

Kahn's two recent sailing ventures are in sharp contrast. Last week across the bay he sailed a relatively benign, non-hiking Etchells to first place in the tune-up regatta for the class worlds next week.

"If you want to have good close racing, go out in an Etchells," he said. "If you want NASCAR-type stuff, try one of these skiffs."

MacDonald said, "It was only his second skiff regatta, and I'm really impressed. Sailing with Paul on the 49er has helped a lot. Look at our finishes ((5)-5-3-3-2-(DNF/9)-3-3-1-3) and you'll see he showed improvement over the week, as well."

The team's worst race was when the top of their mast broke Wednesday, forcing them to drop out.

Results:

1-Pegasus White, Howard Hamlin/Mike Martin/Trent Barnabas, 14
2-Yandoo, John Winning/Andrew Hay/'Geoff Bauchop, 18
3-Pegasus Black, Samuel (Shark) Kahn/Cameron MacDonald/Paul Allen, 23 4-Pegasus Gold, Jack Young/Euan McNicol/Casey Smith, 24
5-Fisher & Paykel, Andrew Cuddihy/Brent Dennis/Gerard Smith, 37
6-Skiff Sailing Foundation White, Chad Freitas/Dana Jones/Matt Noble, 46
7-Rag & Famish, Grant Rollerson/David Cunningham/Chris Cleary, 47
8-Fernside/Skiff Sailing Blue, Patrick Whitmarsh/Kevin Richards/Ben Glass, 55