Victory to Kenwood-Rabbitohs

A complex second round to the 18ft skiffs' 3-Buoys Challenge on Sydney Harbour

The Kenwood-Rabbitohs crew gave a great exhibition to win an incredible Round 2 of the AEG 3-Buoys 18ft Skiff Challenge on Sydney Harbour today.

Despite conditions which constantly fluctuated in strength and directions throughout the race, Brett Van Munster, Kieryn Cowan and Joel Castle were always somewhere near the lead before their 54s victory.

Lumix (Jonathan Whitty, James Hozack, Aron Everett) also sailed consistently to finish in second place, with Fisher & Paykel (Andrew Chapman, Tim Baraclough, Ewan Duckworth) a further 17s back in third place. Backmarker Gotta Love It 7 (Seve Jarvin) was fourth, followed by Mojo Wine (James Dorron) and the rookie Team Southern Cross (Oliver Hartas) in sixth place.

Kenwood-Rabbitohs' win also gives the team the outright lead in the series on three points, following their second placing in last week’s first round. Lumix is second overall on nine points, with Thurlow Fisher Lawyers (Michael Coxon) and Gotta Love It 7 equal third on 10 points. Rounding out the top six placings are Asko Appliances (Marcus Ashley-Jones) on 13 and Fisher & Paykel on 14.

After a delay of one hour due to a lack of wind, the fleet was finally sent away in a westerly breeze. The fleet quickly split into two groups with Asko, Kenwood-Rabbitohs, Fisher & Paykel, Smeg (Nick Press) and Gotta Love It 7 immediately tacking to the northern side of the course.

Rag & Famish Hotel (Jack Macartney), De’Longhi-Rabbitohs (Simon Nearn), Lumix and last week’s winner Pure Blonde (Tom Clout) elected to stay on the same tack on the southern side.

Lumix held a narrow lead over Kenwood-Rabbiohs at the windward mark as the wind strengthened to give the fleet a wild spinnaker ride back to the bottom mark the first time.

The conditions fully tested even the most experienced crews as De’Longhi-Rabbitohs capsized and Rag & Famish Hotel became tangled in a spectacular incident.

Second of the four laps was a lottery. Some teams had wind, others didn’t, and boats were going in different directions with spinnakers. It would be impossible to describe what was happening over the next lap of the course as Asko Appliances held a narrow lead from Team Daly (Nick Daly). As the breeze finally strengthened again on the third spinnaker run, Kenwood-Rabbitohs edged away from Lumix to score an impressive win.

Full results here