"World" 18-foot skiff champs broke Aussie grip

By Rich Roberts
For YachtRacing.com

There was a time when it seemed two of sailing's icons would remain rooted
in their particular venues ad infinitum. Like the North Star and the
Southern Cross, the America's Cup would reside forever in the Northern
Hemisphere and the JJ Giltinan International Championship for Australia
18-foot skiffs would endure Down Under.

The face of the Cup changed in 1983, and now the Giltinan rests in the
hands of three Californians: Howard Hamlin, 49, of Long Beach; Mike Martin,
37, of Dana Point, and Trevor Baylis, 42, a Canadian who lives in Santa
Cruz.

What they accomplished in January was to skiff sailing what Australia II's
victory was at Newport, R.I.

By combined ages, Hamlin, the skipper; Martin and Baylis were the oldest
crew on Sydney Harbour. They won by outsailing a fleet of 14 Australians
and 10 other foreigners. In a fleet where most of the entries are
sponsored, they sailed General Electric/US Challenge. Hamlin and Martin are
members of Alamitos Bay Yacht Club.

Twenty-five boats may not seem like much of an international championship
regatta, but there's a reason for that.

"Not very many people sail an 18 footer," Hamlin said.

Martin added: "Not very many people are capable of sailing them."

An 18 weighs only 350 pounds, much less than the three-man crew. It is
little more than hiking racks and a rig for sails. There is no keel and
hardly any hull. Off the wind it flies a 750-square foot masthead spinnaker
off a bowsprit extending 12 feet in front of the bow and skims over the
waves like a hydrofoil, as fast as catamarans of similar size.

The craft's origins lie somewhere in the 19th century. As the class grew
and Giltinan founded the 18 Footer League in the 1930s, those reckless
Aussies kept piling on sail area until the boats were next to impossible to
control.

Iain Murray, later to become a world-class designer of conventional
sailboats, won six consecutive Giltinans from 1977 through '82. He
interchanged five rigs of different sizes to suit various conditions.

"It got completely out of control," Martin said.

Enough, said the rational competitors, and new rules brought stability-in
more ways than one-to one of the world's most exciting classes.

Except for occasional years when they loaned Giltinan's trophy to Down
Under neighbor New Zealand, the Australians dominated the event from its
beginning in 1938-in fact, winning 26 straight until a UK team won in 1999.

At least, unlike the America's Cup, they kept it within the old British
Empire and out of North America until Hamlin, Martin and Baylis came along.

It was Murray who spotted Hamlin and Martin sailing 505 dinghies, figured
they were good 18 material and encouraged them to come to Australia to
compete. On what was Hamlin's seventh try and Martin's sixth, they won.

Brisk winds circled the compass over seven days, but they pulled it off
with a photo-finish third in the final race to complete a series of
1-2-12-1-11-4-3 and nip John Harris of-where else?-Australia by two points.

In a summary of the event at www.18footers.com.au, the winners aren't
mentioned until the sixth paragraph, but Martin saw no slight in that.

"The Australians were very supportive," he said. "They were pleased about
foreigners winning because it would give the class international
attention."

It will get more next September when St. Francis Yacht Club hosts an
international regatta for the 18s in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge,
a rough and windy venue that is already a world renowned site for
sailboarders.

Technically, the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) doesn't recognize
a "world" championship for the 18s because there aren't enough of them. But
that doesn't detract from the excitement.

"It's funny," Hamlin said, "because the 18s have been around a lot longer
than ISAF."

Hamlin and Martin, in particular, have been sailing together for 10 years,
which is about how long it takes most sailors to master the boat.

"They're the hardest and most challenging boat you can sail," Hamlin said.

"Hands down," Martin said.

Both say the 18s are more difficult to sail than a 49er, the new Olympic
class.

"We've sailed 49ers," Martin said. "The 18s are tougher. Anyone who has
sailed them will tell you that."

Jonathan and Charlie McKee of Seattle went to Australia to sail 18s for
several years before leading the development of 49ers in North America.
They won a bronze medal at Sydney in 2000.

The only other American skipper at Sydney was 49er sailor Dalton Bergan,
one of the ranked Olympic prospects. He finished 19th.

The Aussies are so good, Hamlin and Martin say, because of a youth
development program that starts youngsters in smaller skiffs and builds up
to the 18s.

Hamlin describes sailing an 18 like a cowboy might talk about bull riding.

"They're extremely rewarding when you do well-and very punishing when you
don't," he said.

Martin: "We haven't completed one of these championships without
capsizing."