(Photo By Brad Maylon www.frothers.com.au)Chris Dixon, Greg Dixon and Justin Healey were clearly the masters of the 15-18knot westerly wind on SydneyHarbour today when they brought their skiff CST Composites home an easy winner of the Mick Scully Trophy race.
The trio grabbed the lead on the second windward leg of the course to record a 4mins 1sec win over Kinder Caring Home Nursing, skippered by Brett Van Munster.
Pure Blonde (Janes Francis) was a further 52secs back in third place, just ahead of the early race leader Macquarie Real Estate, skippered by 2005 world champion Euan Mc Nicol.
Maytag (Nick Press), Ssangyong Yandoo (John Winning), Club Marine (Adam Beashel) and Keith Piggin Estate Agents (Peter Morrison) were next in a great finish which saw the group cross the line with just a few secs separating.
The tough conditions saw six of the 22 starters fail to complete the course.
A mad scramble at the start saw near collisions and capsizes abound, while John Winning and his Ssangyong Yandoo team were brilliant to take the lead at the pin end of the line.
On the first windward leg Macquarie Real Estate took the lead but as the 3-buoys handicap system came into play it was Maytag which headed the pack on the downwind leg.
Last week’s winner Asko Appliances (Hugh Stodart) was forced out with gear failure on this run while Maytag surrendered her lead with a capsize.
On the second windward leg, Macquarie led from CST but CST’s crew were superb as they regained the #1 position over Macquarie at the 3-buoys marks.
The battle for third placing was now ‘hotting up’ with Kinder Caring, Pure Blonde, Ssangyong Yandoo and Keith Piggin all in contention.
CST totally dominated the next spinnaker run to open up her race winning margin and the spectator interest was now totally focused on the race for minor placings.
As the wind fluctuated in strength and direction, at times, the positions changed several times on the final windward leg which set up a great spinnaker finish.
Frank Quealey
Australian 18 Footers League
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