imei 16ft skiff gets ready to launch brand new vessel

As the imei 16ft skiff team races their last race in their old boat awaiting the arrival of their brand new vessel, Rob Napper, the teams forward hand, provides an update on their successes thus far as they prepare for the Australian Championships in January, hosted by Manly 16ft Skiff Sailing Club.

"We're very excited that the new boat is ready and will be on the water this weekend, it gives us time to resolve any minor issues prior to the Australian Championship.

We've had a pretty soft start to our club racing program, with a new boat being launched mid-season we are unfortunately unable to carry any accrued points across, so we will not feature in any of the club point scores this season.

We have just completed the NSW Championship, with Sarah Lee at the helm. We finished 7th overall which is a decent result considering we broke some gear in the first race at St George and had some very tricky conditions to deal with this past weekend at Gosford. We did have a couple of highlights though, winning the final heat of the Championship yesterday, and Sarah took out the ladies division of the Championship overall - an achievement Trent or I have never been involved with previously.

We will have Dave Gilmour back on board for the Australian Championship, sailed on our home waters at Manly 16’SSC in January. We went close to winning the last one, finishing runner-up with Dave after a very limited preparation. With a new boat and a bit more time together to prior to the championship we are hoping to go one better this year."

Rob Napper