SIXT 18ft skiff team's success - 2025-26, a season of victory & consistency
by Frank Quealey 9 May 22:23 PDT
Sixt skiff in front of a Sydney Harbour water spray © SailMedia
The young Sixt 18ft skiff racing team of Jacob Marks, Alex Marinelli and Matt Doyle took their impressive record to another level during the Australian 18 Footers League's 2025-26 season when they took out both the Season Point Score and Spring Championship, placed 5th in the Giltinan World Championship, 6th in the NSW State championship and 4th in the Club Championship.
The only disappointment came at the Australian Championship when they finished 10th due to gear failure.
The trio has been together, under the Sixt banner, for the past two seasons, after spending their initial season together sailing The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines during 2023-24, in which they won the 2023 Spring Championship and performed consistently throughout the League's season on Sydney Harbour.
Alex Marinelli and Matt Doyle previously sailed together in the 2022-23 season, when Alex skippered The Oak.
At the time, Jacob was a 16-year-old student at The Scots College who, along with his school mate Ben Crafoord, had just been to Weymouth, UK and contested the 29er World Championship, finishing seventh overall in the gold fleet, after winning five of the seven races in the International 29er Q Series prior to the worlds.
Alex had coached Jacob in the school's sailing program, and encouraged him to move into the 18s in 2023-24. He moved himself onto the sheet and Jacob became one of the youngest skippers ever in the century-old class when they lined up together on The Oak.
Success was immediate when The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines won the Spring Championship and the new team performed well throughout the rest of the season.
The Australian 18 Footers League moved the team onto the Sixt skiff for the 2024-25 season, as part of the club's progressive program to encourage talented young sailors in the class.
The Sixt skiff had contested the 2024 international event on Lake Garda during the Australian off-season and, due to shipping difficulties, was late returning to Australia for the 2024-25 season, which was unfortunate for the new Sixt team. The crew was 'playing catch up' for much of the season as they tried to set the boat up to their style.
When they finally took control of the boat there was absolutely no time before the first race of the season and it took a while, plus a lot of long hours, to get the sails to fit properly for racing. There was no time for any practice; that had to be done in each week's race.
Adding to the team's pressure, Jacob was in his final school year and had to miss a couple of early season races to study for, then take, the final HSC exams.
The crew was determined to be more consistently at the top of the fleet in the 2025-26 season and believed it was just consistency, and the lack of time at the start of the season, which they felt was the problem.
The turnaround in the 2025-26 season backed up that belief. According to Alex Marinelli, "We are really happy with how our third season together went. It was nice to see things come together after a few years of hard work and determination."
"We had some ups and downs at times, but it was great to see it all come together for the Giltinan World Championship and we came away with fifth place."
"It was a great turn-around from the nationals, which was marred with several breakages. In the fiirst race we broken our vang and cunningham and had to retire, then on the last day we tore our spinnaker in half."
"We were really glad to see some consistency come together. That was our main focus for the season and we were happy when this resulted in winning the Season Pointscore and finishing 4th in the Club Championships, which reward the most consistent boats in the League's season."
Alex added, "It was also a really great turnaround after basically resetting almost everything in the boat from scratch when we received it last year, then spending the whole of last season chasing our tail with boat work."
"We definitely learned the hard way, but it taught us a lot of invaluable experience about the set up of the boat. It was awesome that the club brought on someone like Euan McNicol to assist willing teams to get better, and take that next step. We also started training and tuning around late June last year to help get us on the front foot."
"We are glad the work paid off into performance and results. Now we are keen to see what learnings we will take home from the Europeans in Lake Garda."
Australian 18 Footers League President Simon Nearn comments on the importance the club places on the traditional series, which has been won by some of the all-time greats of 18ft skiff sailing, "The Season Point Score reflects consistency and application across a whole season. Working on a weekly adjusted handicap system from October you are unlikely to be able to put in a bad result and still come out on top in March."
"As a handicap trophy anyone can win it, but not without huge commitment week in and week out. It's the only trophy with a financial prize attached with the winning boat being shipped to Lake Garda in Italy to compete for the European title and the Mark Foy International Trophy."
"The young team on Sixt led by Jacob Marks are worthy winners and a great example of the young talent leading the way in the 18 Footer fleet."