League of Extraordinary Men

Five races into the 18-foot Skiff World Championships (the JJ Giltinan) and Aussies own nine of the top ten spots of the 32 competitors.  And yes, we are disappointed to see Obama-Nation languishing in 18th place. While it’s always exciting to watch the 18s doing their thing on Sydney Harbor, there’s a certain lack of drama with the internationals so quickly out of the running.  US skiff stud Howie Hamlin is well back in the fleet in a borrowed boat, the Kiwis are out of the top ten, and Rob Greenhalgh, the only European hope for the Championship, had to mothball his brand new Van Muster boat with the developmental Selden rig – instead, Rob’s picking up a paycheck and hopefully bringing some luck to the underperforming PUMA Volvo team as they head to Brazil.

Ian Roman sent us this great shot (a bunch more here) and the dedicated SailCam.tv has some great video of the racing – here is the clip of Race 2, including pre-race interviews, and here’s the highlight reel from Race 3.