18ft Skiff NSW Championship Races 7 and 8

Race day partner: Fisher & Paykel

The Yandoo team of Tom Needham, Fang Warren and Lewis Brake continued to show their class in all conditions when they won the 2025-26 NSW 18ft skiff Championship after another incredibly crazy weather day on Sydney Harbour today.

As it has been for nearly every race day during the first half of the Australian 18 Footers League 2025-26 season, when the wind has been almost non-existent or gale force and requiring races to be abandoned, today it was a situation which became a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

18ft Skiff NSW Championship Day 4 - Close spinnaker action - photo © SailMedia

Despite all the drama and the need to delay the start of the latter race, the Yandoo team handled it all with the professionalism of a truly champion team, winning the final race in style to put an emphatic mark on the victory.

Yandoo finished with a total of NET 10 points, followed by Balmain on 17, Rag & Famish Hotel 33, Vaikobi 38, Smeg 44, Sixt 49, Club Marine 54, Fisher & Paykel 56, The Kitchen Maker 56, Shaw and Partners Financial Services 61.

18ft Skiff NSW Championship Day 4 - Desperately looking for wind - photo © SailMedia

Both races today were sailed in light to very light breeze over two-lap windward-leeward courses with the lead and just about every placing throughout the fleet changing constantly. Margins became irrelevant and positions changed almost faster than the expert SailMedia livestream commentary team could broadcast.

Aside from the Yandoo team's performance, there were two other teams, Balmain and Rag & Famish Hotel, who deserve recognition for their performances - both today and throughout the entire NSW Championship series.

18ft Skiff NSW Championship Day 4 - Sixt leads The Oak Double Bay on the first lap of Race 8 - photo © SailMedia

Balmain's team of Henry Larkings, Tom Grimes and Lachlan Pryor have been consistent and thoroughly deserved their runner-up status. The team are fast downwind and should benefit from the longer championship courses which will be featured in five races of the nine-race regatta.

The rookie Rag & Famish Hotel team of Ben Crafoord, Ryan Ewings and Max Nearn have also been near the top end of the fleet all season and, with George Morton replacing Ryan for today's race, scored their first win of the season with a 24s win in Race 7 from Yandoo and Balmain, which finished in a dead-heat.

18ft Skiff NSW Championship Day 4 - Full spectator ferry - photo © SailMedia

There must have been so much doubt whether to stage a second race when the harbour had no wind and there was a weather threat of a thunderstorm, but despite this and a lengthy delay a race got under way and again conditions were demanding on the fleet as the breeze came and left the course and the direction was erratic.

Sixt (Tom Clout) held a 1m30s lead at the end of the first lap and did everything to cover the chasing teams but it became ridiculous on the beat to the final weather mark when Sixt had to set a spinnaker the reach the mark.

18ft Skiff NSW Championship Day 4 - Dead heat for 2nd in Race 7 - photo © SailMedia

The Yandoo team was not prominent in this race but showed why it is so good when the crew were patient and determined and came from behind to defeat Balmain by 10s, with Smeg (Ash Rooklyn, Niall Morrow and Mike McKensey) another 25s back in third place.

Racing now goes into recess until Saturday 17 January when the Australian 18 Footers League will conduct the Australian Championship, over three consecutive days to Monday 19 January, on Sydney Harbour. The club's spectator ferry will follow the racing and SailMedia will livestream all the action with an expert commentary team on the course to provide the information for viewers.

18ft Skiff NSW Championship Overall Results: