6:02 PM Sun 21 Mar 2010 GMT
Andrew Short Marine put on a textbook display of light air sailing to win this year's 12ft skiff Port Jackson Championships. In the light, shifty conditions, the Woollahra sailing committee did a professional job in starting the fleet on a revised three-lap windward/ leeward course, with only one short postponement.
At the start, Maersk Line (Jakub Ronowicz, Peter Valpiani) was the first to hit the pressure after choosing to start near the pin end. They soon opened a gap and led the fleet up to Shark Island with Andrew Short Marine (Michael Spies, Damien Vlotman) and Lincon Crowne (Jonathan Temple, Richard Jones) in hot pursuit.
The shifting breeze saw these three boats constantly trade positions on the way up to the top mark, with Andrew Short Marine sneaking around first. With the pressure being about as hard to read as a Women's Weekly horoscope, picking the downwind lay lines was hard work, and more few boats had close encounters with Shark Island.
The second lap saw Dimension Polyant Australia, guest steered by Murray Press surge through the fleet. The crew hit the hard right of the course finding a consistent 20-degree lift to take them to the top mark. This lap also saw Garde (Brett Hobson, Alex Johnson) make significant gains with their new Gemmell square top mainsail, breaking into the top five after having to restart after being judged O.C.S.
After watching Dimension Polyant's freakish performance on the previous lap, the front-runners all chose to hit the far right of the course on the final lap. By this stage, the sea breeze had filled in just enough to power up the massive number one rigs, allowing the crews to outpace past the still underpowered 49ers who were sharing the course upwind. This extra breeze also allowed Hey Charger (Nicholas Bernard and Robbie Poloc) and Foxy Lady Too (Peter Poloc) to make inroads into the top fleet. However this was not enough to cause any changes Andrew Short Marine taking the gun.
This race was also the final heat of the East Coast Championships, which were won by Garde.
The final placings are as follows
Port Jackson Championships, Scratch
1. Andrew Short Marine
2. Lincon Crowne
3. Dimension Polyant
4. Garde
5. Maersk Line
Port Jackson Championships, Handicap
1. Hey Charger
2. Maersk Line
3. Panadol Rapid
East Coast Championships, Scratch
1. Garde
2. Andrew Short Marine
3. Dimension Polyant
East Coast Championships, Handicap
1. Hey Charger
2. Garde
3. Panadol Rapid
by Peter Valpiani
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