ACO 14th Musto Skiff World Championship 2025, Sydney, Australia - Overall
by Paul Newman 10 Jan 2025 21:10 PST
2-10 January 2025
The final day of the ACO 14th Musto Skiff 2025 Worlds started with Jon Newman and Andy Tarboton on equal points. Andy was sitting at the top of the leaderboard on countback, and Rob Richardson was just a couple of points behind them, so whoever won the day would most likely win the overall regatta.
For Race 10, the day started with a small delay to allow a rain front to push through. We were then released to launch, and the fleet sailed out to the start line in a light and shifty easterly, which threatened to shake up the places at the top.
Jon and Andy kept in very close contact with each other throughout the start sequence. Andy came out on top, but Rob managed to slip through and take the win, with Andy ending up in second and Jon ending up in fourth. Separating the two was the ever-consistent Jono Shelley, who came out in third place.
Race 11, the final race of the 2025 regatta, saw Rob get a bad start and then take a swim on a tack on the first beat, pushing him back down the fleet. Andy continued his consistent day of fierce and focused racing, rounding in the top couple with Jon and Rob a little way back. Impressively, Rob recovered downwind to push his way back up the fleet into the top group. He continued to work his way through the fleet, determined to do all that he could to close the points gap further and secure a potential win. However, Andy remained ahead of him, finishing in third, with Jono Shelley in second and Matthias Houvenagel in first, leaving Rob to take fourth place in the final race.
Despite Andy finishing in third place for the final race, it was just enough for him to secure the World Championship title from Rob, who finished in second place overall, beating Jon on countback to see Jon rounding out the podium in third place overall.
At the close of the ACO 14th Musto Skiff World Championship 2025, the top 10 overall places were:
1st place - Andy Tarboton (RSA)
2nd place - Robert Richardson (GBR)
3rd place - Jon Newman (AUS)
4th place - Matthias Houvenagel (AUS)
5th place - Jono Shelley (GBR)
6th place - Eddie Bridle (GBR)
7th place - Graeme Oliver (GBR)
8th place - Danny Boatman (GBR)
9th place - Jamie Hilton (GBR)
10th place - Alexander Greil (SUI)
Full results can be found here.
The 2025 category winners were:
Legend
1st place - Andrew Gould (GBR)
2nd place - Iain Morton (GBR)
3rd place - David Taylor (AUS)
Grand Master
1st place - Wayne Bates
Master
1st place - Graeme Oliver (GBR)
2nd place - Jamie Hilton (GBR)
3rd place - Yaroslav Petrov (ARM)
Youth
1st place: Rob Richardson (GBR)
2nd place: Casey Bates (AUS)
3rd Josh Sloman (AUS)
A massive congratulations to South African Andy Tarboton, who sailed a fantastic series here in Sydney, showing skill and composure all week. We've had an amazing turnout of sailors and families for this regatta, racing on the iconic Sydney Harbour, with just over half the fleet coming from overseas and six nations being represented. In the mix, we also had an ex-Olympian and a current AUS 18 Foot Skiff sailor and several former World Champions in various classes from around the world. We have a fantastic fleet in the Musto Skiff class and a great group of people to race against and spend time with.
Thanks to our 2025 regatta hosts, Woollahra Sailing Club, their race team, and all their amazing volunteers who made this event possible. Also, thanks to the B14 class, who teamed up with us for this regatta to share the racecourse and the venue space for some excellent socials across the week.
We are also incredibly grateful for all the continued support of our long-time Worlds regatta sponsor, ACO Group, as well as our class sponsor, Musto, who provided all our event prizes and an exclusive event t-shirt for every competitor. The team at Ovington Boats also supported the class, arranging spares and shipments for the prizes. We also had fantastic support from J&J Robertson Sons and ANJ Container Services, who helped both the Musto Skiff and B14 classes with shipment and storage needs on the Australian side. A final thanks to our media team from Down Under Sail, who provided all the video and photos for the event, including multiple iconic shots of the fleet racing alongside the infamous Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge!
Our next World Championship will be in 2026, with the location and dates to be announced soon! We look forward to seeing you all there!
More event information at mustoskiff.com/2025-worlds