9:30 PM Sat 4 Apr 2009 GMT
 | | 'The Fleet - 12ft Skiff Australian Titles'
Ed Blackman
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The 12ft Skiff. The only skiff on Australian waters with an unrestricted number of sail combinations, the sailors of this high performance skiff have always been seen as a bit different. Maybe that's why they sail their National Championships over the Easter Long Weekend.
The Sydney Flying Squadron will play host to the 74th 12 foot skiff Australian titles from 10th - 13th April 2009. The event will linger in the memory of the sailors during the long winter months that follow. Some will remember it as a successful outing, others will have to wait till October to prove their worth.
Ten interdominion, six state, five sprint and four interclub races over the past five months of racing have seen many different winners. It really is anyone's guess who will hold the Norman Booth trophy come Easter Monday.
The two boats most will have their eye on are Brett Hobson's Garde and Michael Spies' Andrew Short Marine. Garde, with forward hand Alex Johnson, are the holder of the Australian Championship and were recently crowned Interdominion champions. The crew from Rose Bay were in great touch during the Interdominion championships held in January, but some unforeseen issues have kept the crew off the water for the past month.
 | Current 12ft Skiff Australian Champion - 12ft Skiff Australian Titles - Ed Blackman |
'Alex and I are hoping we can repeat our performance at the Inters come Easter time', Brett said, 'We haven't sailed much since then but plan to boost our training program as the regatta approaches'.
The Andrew Short Marine skiff, crewed by Michael Spies and Damien Vlotman from Hunters Hill are also fresh from a win in the short course championships, and the crew are in fine form.
'It would be great to win the Australian titles.' Spies said, 'We have had an up and down season, winning 2 major regattas, but we have also had some results where we could have sailed better.'
Both crews will have to fend off a host of challengers. From multiple National Champions Jonathan Temple in O from Bondi and Michael Bochner in Gizmo from Mosman. The Press family, father Murray and son Nick in their skiffs Gemmell Sails and Dimension Polyant have also shown enough this season to suggest they can win the title.
There will be a lot of interest in the skiffs travelling down the highway from Queensland. Developments up north have focused on new narrow hull shapes and they will be a bit of an unknown quantity on the water.
The six heat series kicks of with Heat 1 on Easter Friday at 2pm from the Sydney Flying Squadron, Milsons Point, and concludes with heat 6 on Monday at 1.30pm.
A Spectator ferry has been arranged to following the racing on Saturday and Sunday, departing the club's down stair wharf at 1:30pm.
by Nick Press
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