Photo by Frank Quealey

The 2021-22 100th Australian 18 Footer Championship concluded on Sydney Harbour on Sunday.

Two races took place on the wonderful sunny Sunday afternoon. Balmain placed 17 after corrected time in the first race (Race 6), then with sheer determination, recovered for the second race, the most important race of the series, which was double points with no drop race.

Race 7 saw Balmain round second at the first mark and were in the lead by the halfway point. As they led the fleet back down the harbour to the bottom mark north of Clark Island, the spinnaker failed to drop cleanly where sadly, the skiff stalled back to sixth. A strong recovery heading into the finish resulted in Balmain placing sixth across the line and first on corrected time.

With many ups and downs, and despite having to retire in a few races due to gear damage, Balmain’s youth and tenacity got them through the competition. Overall, ranking was fourteen, on 95 points.

The Andoo team of Seve Jarvin, Matt Stenta and Sam Newton were the outright winners of the 2021-22 100th Australian 18 Footer Championship with a total of 14 points. Second was Smeg with 22 points and third was Noakesailing on 33 points.