Wobbly Boot wins Abel Point Yacht Sales trophy
Craig Piccinelli's 9 m Jim Young designed sloop Wobbly Boot added further claim to winning 'The Cock of Pioneer Bay' club championship when she claimed another major trophy over the Whitsunday Sailing Club course last week., Wobbly Boot (Craig Piccinelli) and Asylum Years (Nico Sieling)_Std.jpg)
'Wobbly Boot centre(Craig Piccinelli)'
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Wobbly Boot defied the erratic meaning of her name when her skipper and crew again proved their consistency in a mixed range of wind and sea conditions to record a 2-7-4-4, 17 penalty point score to win the Abel Point Yacht Sales trophy on count back over the improving Kevin Fogarty helmed Idle Time 6-5-3-3 (17pts).
As the final points suggested the Wobbly Boot crew were under the pump and had to produce a protected tactical strategy in the final which produced another high standard of racing before they could officially claim their series victory.
Skipper Craig Piccinelli and the Wobbly Boot crew were continually forced to play catch-up when the Damien Suckling skippered 2006 Rolex Sydney Hobart Performance handicap champion Another Fiasco (4-8-1) held the upper hand to break away from the fleet leaving Wobbly Boot and Idle Time to continually revise their tactical strategy to keep their trophy winning chances alive.
As expected skipper Damien Suckling who had clearly shown with their win in heat 3 that it was possible for Another Fiasco to outpace her .899 handicap rating and this again became a possibility when they produced unmatched speed in the ideal moderate trade winds to clearly dominate the race for line honours.
Another Fiasco appeared to be in good shape at the half way mark leading the Harold Menelaus skippered Treasure Vlll and John Galloway's Queensland Marine Services.
But the race for the more important trophy deciding points on handicap was being controlled by the lower handicapped Turtle Time (Jason Randell) .716 Alan Sneddon's Pacific Phoenix .667 Idle Time .747 and Wobbly Boot .797.
Both Turtle Time and Pacific Phoenix could not win the series but their race results played the major role which ultimately allowed Wobbly Boot to become the champion in the 2008 Abel Point Yacht Sales series when Turtle Time and Pacific Phoenix recorded their best results to finish with the major places forcing third placed Idle Time to miss an outright win over Wobbly Boot by the narrow margin of 36 seconds.
by Ian Grant 
Margaret River or Osborne Park (severne shop), WA
