Appliancesonline.com.au (John Winning Jr., David Ewings, Tim Austin) finished a further 53s back in third place today, ahead of Yandoo (John Winning, Andrew Hay, David Gibson), Team PSP/Aust-Asia/Benny (Rob Greenhalgh, Dan Johnson, Phil Harmer) and Bassett Plumbing & Drainage (Chris Skinner, Luke Gower, Dave Healy) The overall championship placings were Gotta Love It 7 on 16 points, followed by Thurlow Fisher Lawyers (Michael Coxon, Aaron Links, Trent Barnabas) on 20 points, Project Racing (Andy Budgen, James Barker, Matt Mc Govern) 21, Rag & Famish Hotel 23, Yandoo 42 and Smeg (Nick Press, Dan Phillips, Jim Beck) on 44. Today began with three boats in a head-to-head battle for the championship.  Thurlow Fisher Lawyers, Project Racing and Gotta Love It 7. Project Racing won the start and led the fleet to the windward mark.  Team PSP/Aust-Asia/Benny was in second place with Gotta Love It 7 and Appliancesonline.com.au together about 20s from the laed. Thurlow Fisher Lawyers was back in the pack more than 1min from the leader.

Gotta Love It 7 was impressive downwind and challenged strongly for the lead (7s ahead at the bottom mark) but her task was made much easier when one of Project Racing’s trapeze wires broke and the crew had to capsize the boat to fix it. This left Gotta Love It 7 with a clear lead over Appliancesonline.com.au and Rag & Famish Hotel, and it was obvious that except for a capsize or rig failure, Gotta Love It 7 was going to take the title. When her two main opponents could not improve their positions (Project Racing finished seventh and Thurlow Fisher Lawyers eleventh) Gotta Love It 7 was an easy winner. Today’s result sheet and championship pointscore are attached along with three images from the race. More images will be published on www.flying18s.com and www.18footers.com.au.  Video coverage will be shown on www.18footers.com.au. The Australian 18 Footers League would like to thank you for your support of the championship.

Frank Quealey

Australian 18 Footers League

While some disappointing results earlier in the championship have ruled PSP/Aust-Asia out of contention for the championship, the regatta is wide open with three boats still in contention. Australian champion Gotta Love It 7 (Seve Jarvin, Sam Newton, Tom Clout) raced home to finish second just 3s behind the winner.

Rag & Famish Hotel (John Harris, Scott Babbage, Peter Harris) was a further 22s back in third place, ahead of Project Racing (Andy Budgen, James Barker, Matt Mc Govern), Thurlow Fisher Lawyers (Michael Coxon, Aaron Links, Trent Barnabas) and Appliancesonline.com.au (John Winning Jr., David Ewings, Tim Austin). Tomorrow’s final race of the championship will now come down to a three-way battle between Thurlow Fisher Lawyers on 13, Project Racing 14 and Gotta Love It 7 on 15 points. Following a week of unsettled conditions, today’s race was sailed in a 15-knot North East wind and provided a great spectacle for the large spectator fleet.

While Team PSP/Aust-Asia/Benny led all the way, the battle behind was intense a placings changed throughout. Thurlow Fisher Lawyers was second on the initial spinnaker run back to Clarke Island, but fell back later and had to settle for 5^th place, although still retaining the overall championship lead. On the second lap, Rag & Famish Hotel made a move into second place then Gotta Love It 7 came from the pack to stage a dramatic finish with Team PSP/Aust-Asia/Benny.