Geoff Carveth sets his sights on defending the Gold Medal in the unfamiliar waters of the Whitsunday’s.
Date Posted: 09/11/2011
The exceptionally talented English helmsman Geoff Carveth set a new standard in international One-design sports boat racing when he became the first skipper to win two World SB3 Dart World championships on home country waters last May.
Now Geoff Carveth who steered Race Team Gill to a commanding victory has to set his sights on defending the Gold Medal on unfamiliar waters off the Queensland tourist resort of Hamilton Island from December 12-20 2012.
Carveth has time on his side to gather all the important tactical data but not unlike all tacticians the English champion can expect to have his personal skills tested in the warm tropical sailing environment. Based on wind speed recordings for the December 12-20 period in 2010 all of the high standard SB3 Dart racing teams can expect to prepare for a mixed bag of heavy wind racing. Skippers and crews will need to bring the fresh wind sailing skills to Hamilton Island where the wind speeds recorded ranged between a 17 knot East North East sea breeze to a howling 43 knot West North Wester.
Naturally there is no guarantee that there will be a similar weather pattern prevailing in the Whitsunday Islands in 13 months time. But the strong British sailing team who have dominated the World championship since the class was accepted on the international sailing circuit will face a supreme test when the wind blows against the fast flowing current to form a corrugated sea surface.
Source: http://www.scuttlebutteurope.com/
Team Gill rock the SB3 World Championships
Date Posted: 20/05/2011
On the final day of racing, Robert Greenhalgh and crew lead by 5 points. Carveth lead Greenhalgh by 2 points going into the final race of the competition. The fight was going to be on until the end.
Asenathi Jim won the final race of the Championships with Carveth crossing the finish line second, securing his victory of the SB3 World Championships 2011. To say the crew of Race Team Gill were over the moon is an understatement. Carveth explained their day, “In Race 1 today Robert and I sailed our own races, we gained the upper hand and then covered Rob on the start of the second race and took control.” The rest they say is history. “We’ll be celebrating with a few beers this evening! We’ve had a great week and we’ve sailed really well as a crew.”
Geoff Carveth is a second time World Champion in the Laser SB3 class, having won the 2008 Worlds in Dun Laoghaire. “It means a lot to win it twice, it shows the first time wasn’t just a fluke!”
Craig Burlton's Gill Racing Team came third overall, ensuring Gill were well represented at the prize giving. Sarah Allan and crew finished 22nd so congratulations to you all - you are a credit to the Gill Race Team
SB3 Worlds Preview results
Date Posted: 16/05/2011
Carveth the 2008 World champion expressed his skill to finish with a consistent 2-1-3-(5)-3 to head the talented Russian Rodion Luka 4-(20)-4-1-1 while Australian 49er class Olympian Nathan Outteridge 1-5-(13)-2-8 won the bronze on count back over fellow Australian and former Olympian Glenn Bourke 5-6-(9)-3-2. The top four were in a class of their own sailing the tricky wind system with the required skill to protect their point scores. However Geoff Carveth and his Race Team Gill crew needed to fill a top three place in the final race when Rodion Luka (Team Russia) scored his second race win in the final. They remained in the box seat as the provisional winner with their impressive best four to count score of 4-4-1-1 but Geoff Carveth sailed with a safe strategy to claim the series with a 2-1-3-3 score.
The Worlds are now underway and the Gill Race Team is out in full force with representation from Geoff, Craig Burlton and Sarah Allen. Good luck to you all from all at Gill HQ. Stay tuned for more updates as the Racing heats up.
Fifth Endeavour victory for Gill Race Team member Geoff Carveth!
Date Posted: 12/10/2009
Forty-nine –year-old Geoff Carveth, who last sailed the event seven years ago, has won the coveted Endeavour Trophy for the fifth time. He and his crew Emma Clarke representing the RS200 class stole the show today and finished the eight-race series, nine points clear ahead of Lark sailors Alan Krailing and Ed McArdle.
Krailing and McArdle may have led the event at close of play yesterday but the invincible Carveth/Clarke duo – just one point behind overnight – were ready to pounce this morning, notching up their second win of the series in race 7. This was the defining moment for Carveth and Clarke who, with just one race to go, led the overall series by eight points from Fireball representatives Matt Burge and Richard Wagstaff. Krailing and McArdle (Lark) were lying third at this stage but a fifth place in the last race elevated them once again to second place overall.
Chatting about his win as he crossed the finish line today a proud Carveth commented: “It’s a great thing to have done. And I’m glad to have sailed with Emma, keeping our golden team – our championship-winning team – together for this event. It’s often tempting to swap crew for potentially more suitable heavier weight crew for this event particularly when you know you are a bit on the light side but Emma’s a great crew and we work well together. Going into the last race we had a fair idea of what we had to do, so it was a matter of keeping a close eye on those nearest on points to us and sailing as fast as we could.”
Carveth’s fifth Endeavour Trophy win now puts him in a record-breaking tie position with Mike Holmes, the only other person to have matched this scoreline. It will be interesting to see if Carveth can break the record at next year’s grand 50th anniversary event.
Lt. Emma Clarke from the Royal Army Medical Corp in Aldershot who’s been crewing for Carveth all season, and on and off for the last three years, was also thrilled with today’s result, commenting: “It’s absolutely amazing and I really never thought this would happen. I love sailing with Geoff because we work so well together. This result is an amazing culmination of a fantastic year’s sailing.”
