Shute Harbour Slipway Trophy Series is a three way battle

12:15 AM Mon 22 Feb 2010 GMT

'John Galloway’s 10.5m fractional rigged Queensland Marine Services' Ian Grant Click Here to view large photo

Airlie Beach- Queensland: Consistent speed combined with selecting the smartest tactical options has paved the way for John Galloway to claim a three point lead in the Shute Harbour Slipway trophy series on a warm Pioneer Bay.

John Galloway has done little harm to his reputation of being known as the master of short course racing over the Whitsunday Sailing Club courses steering the 10.5m fractional rigged Queensland Marine Services to her 1-2-3 to lead Rod Sawyer's Airlie Sails trophy winner Surefoot by three points.

All three races contested in a different range of conditions have predictably produced different winners with the Queensland Marine Services crew winning race 1 while Craig Piccinelli steered Wobbly Boot to victory in race 2 and Terry Archer showed his class helming the Sydney 40 Questionable Logic to a runaway line and handicap double last week.

Skipper Terry Archer and crew who previously raced the slower Bavaria cruising class sloop Africa have continued to master a steep learning curve to finally pilot Questionable Logic to her first win on corrected handicap.

They have been progressively rewarded by dominating the fastest time honours in recent weeks to now have the crew skill to outpace their high .853 handicap factor as demonstrated with their 3 minute 57 second win over Surefoot and 4 minute 37 second margin over series leader Queensland Marine Services.

But John Galloway and his successful Queensland Marine Services crew hold the upper hand on the point score and are poised to add another trophy to their impressive list which includes a third overall in the 2009 Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week cruising class series.

Their consistent results and collective average over three races allows Queensland Marine Services the advantage of applying a protective tactical cover on their closest rival Surefoot. However John Galloway has never been known to rest on his laurels which suggest his tactical plans will not change when the sails are tensioned for the trophy decider.

Surefoot, winner of the January Airlie Sails series still remains as a serious threat but skipper Rod Sawyer will have to rely on some help while Queensland Marine Services will need to suffer a slump in form for the overall lead to change.

Statistically Queensland Marine Services has been 69 seconds faster than Surefoot in the previous three races and her win in race 1 means a top three placing in the final this week will allow skipper John Galloway to add another trophy to an already overcrowded mantelpiece.

Rod Sawyer also enters the final with the understanding that he will need to protect his sailing space against a counter attack from Wobbly Boot and Kevin Fogarty in Idle Time.

All three provisionally head into the final with a separation of two points and this suggests the battle to decide the top three overall will turn into an intense tactical 'dog fight' involving series leader Queensland Marine Services, Surefoot, Wobbly Boot and Idle Time.

by Ian Grant

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