18 Footers Retire Honourably
On the weekend most of the Sydney Flying Squadron’s 18 footers sailed the wrong course and eventually they retired. It was an impressive display of sportsmanship and club culture that marked the afternoon.
The bizarre circumstances led to a protest being lodged which led to the retirement of a further two competitors leaving the way open for only two skiffs; Sydney Star Accommodation and Ella Bache to finish first and second respectively.
The series of navigation errors was started by Chris Kameen on Austar who on the first downwind leg was leading the fleet in the general direction of two similar marks positioned only 400 meters away from each other at opposite ends of the same small bay.
Due to a handicap start, the leaders in the fleet of 18 footers were all new to the club and Sydney Harbour, and did not realize the error they were about to make. Unfortunately Kameen on Austar got hit by a gust and was forced to bear away towards the incorrect mark. Rynan on Avaya and McKensey on Frame Group were close behind Austar saw him change course towards the incorrect mark and followed. However before the mark Kameen capsized and Avaya and Frame Group kept going to the wrong mark. This happened at the end of only the second leg of the race.
What followed was not an uncommon in yachting; a display of follow the leader. Others didn’t think to check where they were heading and in a form of auto-pilot simply followed the rest of the fleet. 18 footers veterans like Synergy skippered for the day by Jeremy Sharp or Greg Paterson on Dinghy Solutions were both aware an error was possibly being made, but decided to follow the majority in the confusion.
It was only late starter Adrian Dunphy on Ella Bache and scratch boat Sydney Star Accommodation skippered by Mike Boyd who both realized the error and proceeded to observe the correct marks and sailed the true course. It was this deliberate act of sailing the correct course being spotted by a few competitors that led to a steady stream of retirements.
Sign-a-Rama (Merrington), Intercall (Dubreucq) and Austar (Kameen) all realized their error and retired from the course area before finishing. It was disappointing for Merrington who was experiencing pretty good form on Sign-a-Rama on one windward leg even matching the far superior Synergy for speed.
Dinghy Solutions sailed by Paterson with Hungarians Miklos Gaspar and Matyi Majthenyi were also doing well after recovering from an earlier capsize. The trio preparing for the J.J. Giltinan International Championship were quite fast on the water, managed to claw back to fourth place across the line, but upon being informed of their error after the race agreed to retire. This began a flood of retirements in the rigging park that as each competitor was informed; they all elected to retire.
It was a pity for Avaya (M Rynan) and Wentworth Courier (I Pretty) as both had taken second and third place behind casual entry from the Australian 18 Footers League, Maytag (T Hannan). Each skipper had been experiencing difficulty finding the form both 18 foot skiffs are capable of and were initially ecstatic with what they thought was a podium finish.
Summer Series Heat Five - Top Finishes
1. Sydney Star Accommodation (M Boyd)
2. Ella Bache (A Dunphy)
No other finishers
Understandably it took some time for these teams to settle down from their seeming victory and agree to retire, but the Squaddy’s unwritten culture of “sorting it out in the park” was observed by all and there was no need for the protest committee to hand down any decision at all.
What was interesting on the afternoon was the sharp speed demonstrated by Hannan on Maytag. It was an assertive display of sailing targeting each of the skiffs ahead of him and picking them off one by one. A well seasoned crew on a fast boat showed that they will be a force to be reckoned with at the prestigious Giltinan event in mid-February.
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