Micah Lane, Jack Macartney and Drew Waller sailed a brilliant tactical final leg in their Macquarie Real Estate skiff to take out race Race 2 of the Winning Appliances Australian 18ft Skiff Championship on Sydney Harbour yesterday.

The young crew trailed NSW champion Ssangyong Yandoo (John Winning) by 18secs at the final mark but out-sailed the more experienced crew in difficult conditions to grab victory by 1min 34secs.

Defending champion Asko Appliances, Hugh Stodart, sailed consistently without ever looking a likely winner to finish in third place a further 2mins 23secs back.

Despite the loss, Ssangyong Yandoo leads the series on four points, following their second placing behind Gotta Love It 7 (Seve Jarvin) in last week’s Race 1.

Gotta Love It 7 is tied with Club Marine (Euan Mc Nicol) on seven points, with Rag & Famish Hotel (John Harris) on 11, Fiat (Michael Coxon) 13 and Delonghi (Grant Rollerson) on 14.

Yesterday’s race was sailed in a light south-east breeze which fluctuated greatly in both strength and direction throughout the race. Fisher & Paykel, Fiat, Gotta Love It 7 and Active Air-2UE appeared to win the start but Macquarie Real Estate and Ssangyong Yandoo gained rapidly on the left hand side of the course, along with Kinder Caring Home Nursing and Keith Piggin Real Estate.

At the windward mark, Ssangyong Yandoo led by just 5secs from Gotta Love It 7 with Macquarie Real Estate third. Club Marine was fourth, followed by Keith Piggin Real Estate, Asko Appliances, Belle Property, Rag & Famish, Fiat, Delonghi and Active Air-2UE. Ssangyong Yandoo increased her lead on the long spinnaker run but Gotta Love It 7 came back on the windward leg to Clarke Island. The pair held a clear lead for the first half of the race and it appeared as though it would be a match race to the finish.

Asko Appliances and Macquarie Real Estate were involved in another match race for third and fourth while Club Marine and Fiat were similarly engaged in fifth and sixth places. This remained unchanged until the return windward leg from Taylor Bay to Rose Bay where Macquarie Real Estate grabbed a 2secs lead over Ssangyong Yandoo.

When Ssangyong Yandoo turned for home with an 18secs lead the race looked all over but the young crew on Macquarie Real estate never gave up and landed the prize.

Race 3 of the six race series will be sailed next Sunday with Race 4 set for
Australia Day.

Results
Ssangyong Yandoo 4
Gotta Love It 7 7
Club Marine 7
Rag & Famish Hotel 11
Fiat 13
Delonghi 14
Active Air-2UE 19
Noakes Youth 25
appliancesonline.com.au 26
Southern Cross Constructions 26
Macquarie Real Estate 26
AAPT 27
CST Composites 28
Asko Appliances 28
Fisher & Paykel 29
Maytag 33
Omega Smeg 35
Keith Piggin Real Estate 36
Belle Property 39
SX Projects 43
Panasonic 46
Kinder Caring Home Nursing 47
Pure Blonde 48
Team Sitja 49