Australian 18 Footers League Season Point Score
by Frank Quealey 27 Feb 09:02 AEDT
26 February 2025
Over the 90-year history of the Australian 18 Footers League, the Season Point Score has held a prominent position as the club's most coveted title as it represents the most consistent performance by a team over the entire season.
Some of the sport's and Australia's best sailing talent over the years has won the series and this season's winner will get the opportunity to add their name alongside some great champions as we go into Sunday's final race of the series.
After seventeen races throughout the 2024-25 season, the Balmain team of Henry Larkings, Tom Grimes and Flynn Twomey holds a narrow one point lead over the current Australian Rag & Famish Hotel team of Harry Price, Max Paul and Finn Rodowicz.
The Rag took an early lead in the series with an outstanding start to the season but the Balmain team has gradually fought back with a string of consistently good results over recent races.
Australian 18 Footers League President John 'Woody' Winning has won the JJ Giltinan world Championship, the Mark Foy international Trophy, Australian and NSW championships and values his success as a multiple winner of the Season Point Score with pride.
According to John, "winning a championship is definitely an honour and something special, but sometimes you are competing against 3 or 4 teams capable of becoming overall winners."
"When you win the Season Point Score, because it's based on handicap performances, you have been competing every week against every boat in the fleet with a winning chance, and that's a fantastic challenge."
Sunday's final race will be held in conjunction with a race of the club championship so the finishing position of each team will be based on the time differences between each team based on their allotted handicap.
Balmain's handicap on Sunday is 4mins, Rag & Famish Hotel has a 1min handicap, so The Rag will first have to finish at least 3mins ahead of Balmain to have any chance of taking Season Point Score victory.
The club's spectator ferry will leave Double Bay Public Wharf at 2pm on Sunday and SailMedia will cover the race LIVE from the course on YouTube:
Leading points in the Season Point Score are:
82 Balmain
83 Rag & Famish Hotel
89 Yandoo
91 Vaikobi
92 The Kitchen Maker
96 Lazarus Capital Partners
103 Burrawang-Young Henrys
104 Smeg
105 Finport Finance
107 Sixt