Competition
The 18 Footers season starts up in only a few weeks. Most of the
fleet will be pulling their boats out of the shed for the first
time since last season… some of the boats will be testing out new
teams for the first time (like ours)… and then some others will
be launching new boats after putting in plenty of
preparation.
Seve, Rob and Sam seem to fall into the last category. Their
program was officially announced only
today, but the guys have been putting in plenty of time on the
water on the old Panasonic over the last few months. It’ll be great
to see how they go…
They’ve definitely got a few things going for them, with Andrew Palfrey kitting out the
boat and coaching them and Iain Murray lining up the sponsor (not
that they really need it, with combined parental support which is
pretty extreme… even relative to the rest of the fleet… that’s
saying something).
It’d be great to see another boat break last season’s top 4…
these guys look like they might just do it.
Another new hotshot team is the Pure Blonde (formerly Casio) effort
of 12 footer sailors Nick, Will and Brad. They’ve got a good
pedigree and a great boat, but they’re pretty green in terms of 18s
experience.
…
I think we might need to pull the Club Marine out of the shed
before the season starts just to make sure we can keep it
upright.
