Please select your home edition
Edition
Barton Marine Pipe Glands

18ft Skiff NSW Championship continues on Sunday

by Frank Quealey 29 Nov 2019 05:49 UTC 1 December 2019

After a two-year break from sailing in the 18ft Skiffs, Jack Macartney returns to the class full time this season as skipper of a new skiff, sponsored by tech2, which will have its first race on Sunday in Race 2 of the NSW Championship on Sydney Harbour.

Macartney was twice runner-up in the JJ Giltinan Championship, behind Gotta Love It 7 in 2013 and Thurlow Fisher Lawyers in 2017, is back with the determination to go one better when the 2020 JJs are conducted on Sydney Harbour next March.

After missing the first race of the 5-race NSW Championship series, winning the title may be difficult for the new tech2 team, but a race win is well within the team's capability and victory in the other big championships later in the season is certainly possible.

Jack Macartney's record in big 18ft Skiff championship regattas is very good. In seven JJ Giltinan Championship, he has bever finished worse than 8th and was a part of Macquarie Real Estate's team, which won the 2006-2007 Australian Championship.

Obviously last Sunday's Race 1 victory by Winning Group (John Winning Jr.) and top placings to the series hot shot teams, defending champion Shaw and Partners Financial Services (James Dorron), Finport Finance (Keagan York), The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines (Aron Everett), appliancesonline.com.au (Brett Van Munster) and Smeg (Micah Lane) sets these teams up as most likely to become overall champions for 2019-2020.

Strangely, Tom Clout, who sailed as replacement sheet hand on Winning Group's victory last Sunday, should line up on Sunday as skipper of another new skiff, sponsored by Bird and Beer, if that skiff is ready to race.

Like Macartney, Tom Clout, who was sheet hand on the 2010 JJ Giltinan champion Gotta Love It 7, is returning to the 18s after a few seasons break to go ocean racing.

While most of the leading teams have long been at the pointy end of regatta placings, the great improver in the 2019-2020 Season has been The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines team of Aron Everett, Courtney Mahar and Charlie Gundy.

Everett and his team were improving continually over the 2018-2019 season then began strongly this year when runner-up to appliancesonline.com.au in the recently concluded Spring Championship.

'The Oak' had five Top-5 finishes in the seven-race series but no other team came close to appliancesonline.com.au, which had two wins, two second placings and a fifth place, to dominate the event.

In last Sunday's first race of the NSW titles, The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines recovered from a moderate first leg of the course to be in second place behind Winning Group as the fleet headed for home.

Defending NSW champion James Dorron's Shaw and Partners Financial Services team showed its best form of the season so far and finished strongly to pass 'The Oak', which came home in third place.

Three of the normally strong teams Noakesailing (Sean Langman), Yandoo (John Winning) and The Kitchen Maker-Caesarstone (Jordan Girdis) were not amongst the top placegetters in Race 1 and will be expected to improve their standings in the championship after Sunday's race.

Light winds which have been present for all but one race this season are predicted to continue again on Sunday with North-East winds of around 11-14 knots likely.

Spectators can see all the teams while they are rigging, then follow the racing on board the club's spectator ferry, which leaves Double Bay Wharf, alongside the rigging area, each race day at 2pm.

Book online through the club's website www.18footers.com.

The AeroMedia Live Broadcast team will also be out on Sydney Harbour to capture all the action for those who can't make it onto the water. The livestreaming is available at www.18footers.com by clicking on the '18 Footers TV' link.

As well as watching the livestreaming coverage, you can also follow all the club's racing throughout the entire 2019-2020 Racing Season:

  • Club Website - www.18footers.com
  • Twitter - @18skiff
  • Instagram - @18skiff
  • Facebook - International 18Ft Skiff

Related Articles

18ft Skiffs: Queensland 18 footer history
Decades of successful ideas and achievement Queensland's revival over recent seasons, which resulted in a two-pronged attack by experienced and young teams in new skiffs at the 2025 Giltinan world championship Posted on 2 Jul
18ft Skiff European Championships
Germany's Black Knight takes the title by a single point The International 18 Footer League - European Championship 2025, hosted by Circolo Vela Arco, concluded on Thursday, after five days of spectacular racing featuring some of the fastest and most exciting skiffs in the sailing world. Posted on 27 Jun
Western Australia's 18 footers history
An on-off situation between the 1890s and 2013 Western Australia's participation in the Australian 18 footer scene has been an on-off situation between the 1890s and 2013 but its impact during the early years of the class demands that it is remembered today by all 18 footer supporters and enthusiasts. Posted on 11 Jun
The link between two great Australian sports
A unique connection between brute strength and beauty James Joseph Giltinan was one of Australia's great entrepreneurs of the early 1900s, and the man most responsible for creating a unique link between one of the most confrontational football codes in the world and the beauty of sailing. Posted on 25 May
The last 18' skiff champion before one design
Michael Spies won the 1993 and 1995 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championships When Michael Spies won the 1993 and 1995 World 18 footer championships, in his Julian Bethwaite-designed Winfield Racing skiff, he became the last winner of the title before the introduction of the new one-design 18 footer won its first title in 1996. Posted on 14 May
Smeg's 29 years of 18ft Skiff sponsorship success
It all began when a Trevor Barnabas-led team raced a skiff named Omega Smeg-2UE The Smeg Australia 18ft skiff sponsorship with the Australian 18 footers League began in 1996-97 and has continued harmoniously, with many great successes, over the following twenty nine seasons on Sydney Harbour. Posted on 7 May
The 18ft Skiff 'Big Boat Era'
The original 18 footers which raced from the 1890s to the mid-1930s We are all familiar with the modern 18 footers as they speed across Sydney Harbour with their carbon fibre hulls and lightweight state-of-the-art sails and spars but they a vastly different to the original 18 footers. Posted on 23 Apr
A look back at the 2003 18ft Skiff JJ Giltinan
The closest of 76 regattas in the greatest championship The recent JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship regatta produced some nervous moments for the Yandoo team of Tom Needham, Fang Warren and Lewis Brake during the 'crazy' westerly conditions of the last race Posted on 30 Mar
Winnings JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship Day 7
The Yandoo team of Tom Needham, Fang Warren and Lewis Brake wrap up the win The Yandoo team of Tom Needham, Fang Warren and Lewis Brake became the world 18 footer champions after scoring a brilliant victory in the Winnings 2025 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship, which concluded on Sydney Harbour today. Posted on 16 Mar
Winnings JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff Championship Day 6
Yandoo in pole position going into Sunday's final race The Yandoo team of Tom Needham, Fang Warren and Lewis Brake went into today's Race 8 on Sydney Harbour with a two points lead over Finport Finance, its closest challenger to retaining the coveted title. Posted on 15 Mar
Henri-Lloyd Dynamic RangePantaenius 2022 - SAIL & POWER 1 FOOTER ROWSwitch One Design