No Greenhalgh at the JJ

The British skiff sailor is unlikely to attend the effective 18ft Skiff Worlds this year despite owning a brand new boat

As the British 18ft Skiff fleet returned from the JJ Giltinan Trophy this year, the class’ effective World Championship, we heard a brand new boat was in the container to be delivered to Rob Greenhalgh. This was exciting news. With Greenhalgh having won the regatta, the class' effective world championship, back in 2004, the hope from many was that he might return to compete for GBR in the 2008 event.

When we spoke to him at the International 14 National Championships, P.o.W week, Greenhalgh and his brother Peter were both still discussing the 18 and stating that it would probably be the next thing on their list. However, since then Greenhalgh has been signed up to Team Origin for the America’s Cup. So at present the new weapon is residing in Richard Woof’s new facility in Weymouth, waiting to be completed and it seems unlikess Greenhalgh will make it out to the JJ Giltinan at all this year.

“I got the boat last year purely because there was a container of boats coming back from Australia with a space in it,” Greenhalgh explained to TheDailySail. “Boats were only going to get more expensive and I was able to ship it back relatively inexpensively then.”

The boat is not too far away from completion. It will basically just need a spray job before it is ready to hit the water. Although there is some work Greenhalgh wants to do on the rig it is neither this nor the time it would take to get the boat out on the water this season that is preventing the campaign from going forwards. “The way things stand [the boat] is not going to go soft or anything sitting in Weymouth. I will definitely put it on the water at some point and I would have liked to do the up-coming JJ, but I did not really want to fund the thing myself,” Greenhalgh comments. He adds that he has self-funded his International 14 campaign this year and the thought of doing this as well as self-funding the 18ft Skiff is not a prospect he relishes. All is not lost though, as the team are currently in discussions with several different potential sponsors.

Even if the money does suddenly appear from a keen sponsor there is still the time issue for Greenhalgh. “Obviously joining Team Origin is going to tie my time up a bit at the moment,” he comments. “There is no point really in just going and doing the one event, you need to do enough to stand a reasonable chance otherwise it will not be that enjoyable and you will not get the result you want.”

So is it likely that we will see Greenhalgh back in an 18 anytime soon? “We will definitely get it out, maybe next year when I have a bit more time on my hands. Maybe when I start making money from Origin I will get Woofy [Richard Woof] to finish it.”

It looks set to be another year without Greenhalgh at the JJ Giltinan. Next year though Britain’s main hope in the ultimate skiff class could well be back on the water. A question of watch this space, oh and if anyone want to sponsor a competitive 18 crew…