Belmont 16 ft Skiff Club VJs

The 1977-78 VJ Australian Chamionships were held on the Swan River in Western Australia at the South Perth Yacht Club.

Senior winner was ‘Its Catching’ skippered by Graeme Talbot and crewed by David Talbot from the Belmont 16ft Skiff Club.

Junior winner was ‘Why Not’ skippered by Geoff Hughes from Georges River SC.

‘Its Catching’ was built by Ren Timmins of Belmont and the sails were made by Bruce Hewish from Freshwater Racing Sails.

Senior placings were:

Boat Skipper

1. Its Catching Graeme Talbot

2. Its Pegasus David Anstey

3. Photon Trevor Whitbread

4. Breakaway Bruce Moore

5. Vendetta Ray Beeton

6. Bosca Peter Winney

7. Austral Voyager Ron Swanbert

8. Someday Peter Hellyit

Graeme Talbot’s ‘Its Catching’ on the Swan River at Perth

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‘Its Catching’ under spinnaker 1977-78

1993-94 NSW Championships:

Senior champion was ‘Thunderbird’ skippered by Bruce Eltoft and crewed by Matthew Richards from the Georges River SC

Junior champion was ‘Ride The Lightning’ skippered by Glen Robinson and crewed by Stephen Forbes from the Belmont 16ft Skiff Club.

‘Ride The Lightning’ pictured here on the Manning River at Taree during a NSW title heat

The 1995-96 VJ Australian Championships were held at the Belmont 16ft Skiff Club in mainly fresh breezes.

Senior division winner was ‘Red Thunder’ skippered by Bruce Eltoft and crewed by Ben Stephens from the Georges River SC

Junior division winner was ‘Addiction’ skippered by James Griffith and crewed by Andrew Stone from the Belmont 16ft Skiff Club

‘Addiction’ reaching to the wing mark in a fresh noreaster

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‘Addiction’ at top speed

‘Addiction’ on port tack in the noreaster

‘Rattle And Hum’ on a fast reach Belmont SE course

‘Rattle And Hum’ skippered by Michael Quirk and crewed by Michael Bull

‘Rattle And Hum’ the 1994-95 Junior VJ champion came second to ‘Addiction’ in a cliff-hanger finish in the final race of the Juniors

Senior division Heat 1: with a 15-20 knot sou-easter behind them ‘Red Thunder’ Bruce Eltoft and Ben Stephens show great crew work in preparing for a leeward side float drop of the spinnaker in the last few seconds before rounding the bottom mark. The spinnaker is already being pulled in tightly here by forard hand Ben as Bruce prepares to let off the halyard and windward brace. They executed the maneouver perfectly and the spinnaker was away in the bag just seconds before rounding the mark in a very fresh breeze.

‘Natural High’ Nathan Quirk and David Hickey reaching on the Belmont NE course

‘Natural High’

‘Natural High’ from Belmont finished in second place behind Bruce Eltoft’s ‘Red Thunder’ in the Senior division.

Nathan Quirk only decided to compete in the 1995-96 Australian title series a few weeks before the series started, hired the boat from Adam Young and recruited young David Hickey from the Belmont Pelican class as crew. David had not previously sailed a VJ and did a fantastic job in his first championship series sailing against top quality opposition.