Clint Bowen claims eighth Manly 16ft Skiff Club Championship

10:02 AM Mon 30 Mar 2009 GMT

'Fluid Building Services' Manly 16ft Skiff Club

Fluid Building Services skipper Clint Bowen channelled one of the world's greatest sportsmen before building on a record that may never be matched in Manly 16ft Skiff Club's history.

Bowen made it seven consecutive club championships - and eight overall - with an all-the-way victory in Saturday's final heat of the Wild Oats Club Championship.

Fluid needed to beat perennial rival and current National Champion Fire Stopping (James Dorron) to clinch the crown and did so - saluting the judge ahead of second-placed Altis Consulting (Phil Cooke) with Fire in third.

The final pointscore saw Fluid (13 points) nudge out Fire Stopping (20.4) and Aero Sails (Adrian Nash) on 27.

'I felt quite comfortable and quite confident heading into race. We wanted to match Lance Armstrong and win seven in a row,' a proud Bowen declared minutes after leaving the water.

'We were keeping an eye on Fire Stopping and also trying to do our own thing and not get too worked up about the whole thing.

'The guys sailed awesome, as they have all year.'

Despite the pressure, Bowen said it was the most comfortable he'd felt in any of his previous club championship tilts.

Fluid ducked Fire Stopping early in the light conditions and cleared out to a 50m lead from the rest of the field.

There was no looking back from there for Bowen and his crew of Anthony King and Brent Dennis.

'I felt less pressure in this one than I have in previous ones,' Bowen said. 'I'm not sure why; maybe I'm getting use to it. It was pretty mellow, just like any other race.'

For Dennis, it was a sweet victory after a decade of missed opportunities.

'I've been sailing at the club for 10 years and always wanted to win one of these,' he said.

'I came second to these guys on another boat and I didn't want to come second again. It's been the highlight of my time in sailing.'

It was a case of so close yet to so far for the boys aboard Fire Stopping.

'It was very tight but I think the breeze suited them a bit better,' crewman James Bury said.

'We sailed our own race and we're really happy with the season we had. We'll be back. There is a lot of unfinished business.'

www.manlyskiff.com.au

by Brad Andrews

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Clint Bowen claims eighth Manly 16ft Skiff Club Championship

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