Another bullet for RMW

After day of big shifts at the 18ft skiffs JJ Giltinan Trophy in Sydney

Day five of the JJ Giltinan Trophy on Sydney saw the most tense race to date with continuously changing positions thanks to the dramatic wind shifts all across Sydney Harbour. These conditions should have suited the local sailors, but in the end victory went to Rob Greenhalgh's RMW Marine team, scoring their third bullet of the series.

The boats were racing on course five in a west-north-westerly wind which saw them head off from Rose Bay on the southeast side of the harbour to the northwest corner of the harbour round a mark off Clark Island and then back to the start line. A local expert told us that these conditions are typical for the winter months here in Sydney but happen only about once a year during the summer.

Trouble set in from the start when the 22 competing skiffs were hit by a massive wind shift seconds after the gun had gone.

"It was starboard bias with a minute to go and then it went to heavy port bias and at the starboard end everyone was becalmed and we tried to tack but there was just no wind and it was going circles around our sails," described RMW skipper Rob Greenhalgh. "It is just like that in that bay. But most of the fleet was knackered anyway - there were only five or six boats which got away."

Among the boats which did get away cleanly were local favourites John Harris on Rag & Famish Hotel, John Winning on Yandoo and Trevor Barnabas on Omega Smeg. Back on the start line Greenhalgh had tried to tack and at one point was in irons - the first time so far this series they have started badly. The American world champions, Howie Hamlin on West Marine also started poorly. Fortunately for RMW they were able to gain ground on the first upwind leg.

"We were high so we had a good lane all the way across the Bradleys and there was a big shift when it went hard left which we were on the wrong side of but it went so far left that we were fine anyway," said Greenhalgh. "Then it was just a case of holding on and going very very safety." Rounding the top mark they were fourth.

The breeze dropped slightly for the two sail reach to the mark off Clark Island and a clean swift hoist by Barnabas' team saw them take the lead. Omega Smeg continued to extend as the boat hurtled back towards Rose Bay, Rag & Famish losing ground as they appeared to be experiencing problems with with kite halyard.

Throughout this there were still massive gusts descending on the race course. "The gusts were coming through and lifting 30degrees coming through at 25 knots and it is just a case of hanging on and downwind and not overstanding marks downwind which is so easily done when the big gusts are coming through," said Greenhalgh.

"A couple of times downwind we had a couple of spear-ups and were close," added Greenhalgh. "To be honest a lot of it isn’t tactics, it is boat handling - jumping in and out. Peter did a great job jumping in and out on the wire because it was so gusty and Dan was great. It was just about keeping the sails in and out. To be honest once the wind had shifted so far left we were nearly laying the windward mark apart from a little bit at the end so there wasn’t a huge amount of tactics involved. The tactics here are relatively straightforward - after one beat you see where’s good and you generally try to go that way again and try and be a bit conservative and don’t overdo anything."



RMW demonstrate a 'spear up'

Omega Smeg led from here until the final leeward mark rounding when they were caught in the lee of a spectator catamaran that dropped them to fourth. Rounding the top mark for the final time RMW had pulled out a lead of 30-40 seconds but even then their victory wasn't secured.

"Coming down that last beat we said we are happy to let Trevor overtake us," described Greenhalgh. "We just don’t want to capsize and lose more than second. But coming down the last beat there was this huge gust which Trevor was in and he got miles below us and we just had to keep waiting for the gust which we could see coming down and we got it just by Clark Island and then nearly didn’t make it through the finish line with all the flapping sails!"

In the dash for the finish Barnabas very nearly clinched it until they got their spinnaker caught around the bottom, but in the end of a tense, relatively long race gave RMW their third wind, increasing their already substantial lead.

Despite losing at the finish Barnabas was pleased because they had been showing better speed. "We set the headsail up a little bit differently to what we normally have. For the first two races I thought we were fairly slow. We went out training with RMW before the regatta started and were fairly competitive against them. And then we changed something [the cut of the headsail] and we thought we were going to go faster, but we weren't. So we have put it back and today was an indication of that."

Once again there was a great separation between the leading group and those behind as ASKO Appliance's Hugh Stodart explained: "We missed the shift off the start line and got out of the top pack and never got back through. We would always get them within our sights and another shift would come through and they’d be gone again. You need a good shift to get back, a bit of luck and that never came for us really. It just wasn't our day."

With a layday today the final two races of the JJ Giltinan Trophy will take place tomorrow and Sunday. With a 19 point lead RMW Marine are now in a strong position to take the championship. In the meantime there is the matter of a leak in the boat to be resolved.

More photos on the following pages...

Finish times:

1	RMW Marine	Rob Greenhalgh	04:32:30
2	Omega Smeg	Trevor Barnabas	04:33:13
3	Yandoo	John Winning	04:35:13
4	Rag & Famish Hotel	John Harris	04:35:31
5	Casio Seapathfinder	Michael Coxon	04:35:34
6	Computer Associates	Anthony Young	04:36:13
7	ASKO Appliances	Hugh Stodart	04:36:46
8	Maytag	Tony Hannan	04:40:43
9	Fisher & Paykel	Grant Rollerson	04:41:23
10	Nuplex	Phil Airey	04:41:50
11	Club Marine	Warwick Rooklyn	04:43:50
12	Sunrise	Clynton Wade-Lehman	04:44:10
13	West Marine	Howie Hamblin	04:44:59
14	CST Composites	Chris Dixon	04:48:12
15	Rosemount	Micah Lane	04:49:47
16	Aristocrat	Patrick Whitmarsh	04:52:21
17	Avaya	Peter Morrison	04:52:21
18	Canada	Fred Eaton	04:56:26
19	Churchills Sports Bar	Ben Austin	04:56:59
20	Aust 18 footers league	Chris Pomfret	05:06:34
21	General Electric	Mike Keser	05:11:43
22	Panasonic	Jarrod Simpson	DNF

Overall results:

Pos	Boat	Skipper	Nat	D1	D2	D3	D4	D5	Tot
1	RMW Marine	Rob Greenhalgh	GBR	1	1	2	5	1	10
2	ASKO Appliances	Hugh Stodart	Aus	3	2	3	14	7	29
3	Computer Associates	Anthony Young	Aus	6	3	13	1	6	29
4	Maytag	Tony Hannan	Aus	7	4	5	7	8	31
5	Yandoo	John Winning	Aus	2	5	7	16	3	33
6	Casio Seapathfinder	Michael Coxon	Aus	8	6	11	4	5	34
7	Rag & Famish Hotel	John Harris	Aus	4	11	4	11	4	34
8	West Marine	Howie Hamblin	USA	11	12	6	2	13	44
9	Omega Smeg	Trevor Barnabas	Aus	10	DNF	1	12	2	48
10	Fisher & Paykel	Grant Rollerson	Aus	5	15	14	6	9	49
11	Sunrise	Clynton Wade-Lehman	Aus	18	10	9	10	12	59
12	Nuplex	Phil Airey	NZ	12	8	21	8	10	59
13	Club Marine	Warwick Rooklyn	Aus	14	9	12	17	11	63
14	Avaya	Peter Morrison	Aus	19	13	16	3	17	68
15	Aristocrat	Patrick Whitmarsh	USA	17	7	20	9	16	69
16	CST Composites	Chris Dixon	Aus	15	DNF	8	13	14	73
17	Rosemount	Micah Lane	Aus	16	16	10	20	15	77
18	Panasonic	Jarrod Simpson	GBR	9	DNF	18	18	DNF	91
19	Team Canada	Fred Eaton	Can	22	14	15	22	18	91
20	Churchills Sports Bar	Ben Austin	Aus	13	DNF	DNS	15	19	94
21	General Electric	Mike Keser	Germ	21	DNF	19	21	21	105
22	Aust 18 footers league	Chris Pomfret	Aus	20	DNF	17	19	20	109