The 2009 Australian Historical 10ft Skiff Championship was won by Ron Johnston and crew of Karen Warburton and Sandor Tornai in Irene.  The series was conducted by the Brisbane 18 Footers Sailing Club from the Brisbane Sailing Squadron on Bulimba Point, with courses predominantly up and down the Hamilton and Colmslie Reaches of the River.  A PDF of the overall and heat results can be downloaded here .

Overall conditions were light to moderate, with Heats 2 and 4 shortened by the Race Committee to ensure completion.

Heat One was dominated by the Queensland boats Avro (Hugh Graveson) and Truant (Fred Palin), who both skipped out to an early lead with NSW contender Scamp II (Alan Robinson).  Truant and Avro managed to clear away and maintain a respectable lead from the pack on the run upstream, and were ultimately never headed for the remainder of the race.  It was a close run home however, with Truant eventually getting past Avro to win in the dying stages by 22 seconds, with Irene third.

Heat Two  was held in a fading easterly breeze, which made timing the start difficult for Avro and Marina (Laurie Williamson), who got caught with the fast ebbing tide and found themselves caught on the bow of the starter's boat.  Irene also missed the starter's boat and had to tun around to cross the start line.  Merle (Peter Walsh) and Cornstalk (Russell Bampton) cleared away with the tide, but on turning at the top mark had the pack nipping at their heels.  Avro made a bold move and snuck up along the northern bank to take the lead, while the majority of the fleet stuck to either a mid-river or southern bank line.  Unfortunately the breeze left Avro and saw Truant, Irene, Scamp and Merle all join her at the top mark.  At times, this bunch were barely stemming the tide, which saw the Race Committee make the decision to shorten the course.  After several attempts, Avro then Irene managed to round, quickly breaking clear with the tide.  It was a nip and tuck battle even after rounding the last mark for the short run home, Avro this time hugging the south bank following the text book, but it was Irene who sat further out who had the better breeze to win by thirty seconds, with Merle in third place a further nineteen seconds behind.

Heat Three saw variable NE-ENE breeze, stronger down around Colmslie.  Irene, Scamp II, Avro and Ramona II (Colin Gillespie) were all dominant and lead early from Merle, Truant and Truant II (Col McCartney).  Some fresh breeze at the second mark saw Irene, Ramona II and Scamp II all overshoot, leaving Avro to capitalise and round in second place behind Irene, with Ramona II hot on their heels.  In the fresher breeze, Avro and Scamp II struggled with their bigger rigs, seeing Ramona II and Irene clear out to lead on the last run home.  The pack had also caught the leaders, which saw the majority of the fleet strung across the river as they passed the cruise terminal.  Meanwhile Ramona II and Irene were battling it out for first, eventally seeing Ramona II take the win by fifteen seconds from Irene, with Truant II third.  All bar Commonwealth II (Rick Priestley) finished within four minutes of the winner, however the Commonwealth was lucky to finish having suffered some problems with her mast tabernacle, the big spar was lashed in to place for a well deserved finish.

Coming in to Heat Four, only Avro could take the title from Irene, but she had to win the race to do so.  The conditions weren't helping, heavy rain was neutralising what breeze there was.  The RC postponed the 12:00 hoping the breeze would fill with time.  The call was eventually made to start at 13:00, with the fleet promptly hitting the water but staying well upstream of the start line.  Only Cornstalk and Avro were within cooee of the line as the preparatory signal was made.  Eventually Commonwealth II also joined these two and drifted rather than sailed downstream.  Slowly but surely the fleet brought down a zephyr and caught the lead trio, with Merle again showing superb light air skills sailing along the wharves and clear of the fleet.  Merle lead from Truant, Irene, Avro and Scamp II for the run back upstream to the shortened finish line.  Avro cracked the big Etchells kite in a desperate attempt to make some ground, but it was too late with Merle taking the win by 1 min 40 sec from Irene, then a further 9 min 4 sec back to Truant.  Surprisingly in the light breeze four boats managed to capsize after the race, three on the ramp - their names have unfortunately been supressed.

Overall, Irene won on 6 points [(3)-1-2-2] from Avro on 14 [2-2-(5)-4] then Truant on 15.7 [1-5-(7)-3].  Corrected time honours went to Merle [(10)-1-8-1] on 14 points, from Cornstalk on 18 [9-2-1-(12)] and Irene on 19 [4-4-(5)-2].  The State Teams Trophy ended with both states on 127 points, both taking out a heat each, but NSW ended up winning the trophy on the last heat's results.

Once again, a fantastic carnival, some very close racing making it all the more interesting.  Our eternal thanks to the ladies who kept us fed all weekend, to the Brothers Prkye for keeping us watered, to Christine Reid and her army of helpers on the Race Committee who kept the races in check, to our rescue boat drivers and others who gave us tows home, Chris Howells for use of his boat for the starting duties, and of course, the supporters one and all who came down even just to watch us rig or de-rig.