The Kitchen Maker 2026-27 18ft skiff team
by Frank Quealey 23 Sep 02:10 PDT
The Kitchen Maker with the spinnaker in a southerly during the 2012-13 season © Frank Quealey
Three regular competitors in the Australian 18 Footers League's Sydney Harbour fleet for most of the past decade are returning after a two-year 'break' for family reasons and will crew The Kitchen Maker 18ft skiff in the club's upcoming 2026-27 season.
They are Jordan Girdis (skipper), Josh Feldmann (sheet) and Jacob Broom (bow) who will re-unite the team that sailed the Fisher & Paykel skiff during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.
The move also re-unites Jordan Girdis to The Kitchen Maker sponsorship which he led for three seasons between 2018-19 and 2020-21.
For Darren McKavanagh, owner of The Kitchen Maker, it will be his 17th continuous boat-sponsoring partnership with the Australian 18 Footers League since the 2010-11 season, although his career as a competitor in the fleet goes back to 2001 when he first sailed on a skiff named Total Recall.
Over the past sixteen sponsorship seasons Darren's The Kitchen Maker has supported many great 18 footer skippers including Brett Van Munster, Cameron McDonald, Malcolm Page, John Sweeny, Andrew Chapman, Stephen Quigley, Scott Babbage and Lachlan Steel as well as Jordan Girdis.
Highlight for The Kitchen Maker sponsorship was the 2017-18 NSW Championship victory.
Asked how it felt for the trio to be getting back into the 18s after the 'short break', according to Jordan, "We are as excited as ever to get back onto the water - a few years off has re-ignited the spark for skiff sailing."
"We are coming back as an even bigger team, with each of us having had baby girls during our time off - Jacob with Elliot, Josh with Olive, and myself with Riva. We are looking forward to every Sunday being a full on family affair."
Re-uniting with Darren and The Kitchen Maker? "The Kitchen Maker is now synonymous with 18 footer sailing on Sydney Harbour, and we are grateful to be able to fly the flag once again with Darren's support."
"As it was in my prior seasons, The Kitchen Maker team is much broader than the three on the boat, and we intend to keep that tradition alive this season."
Jordan Girdis, who is also the Commodore of the Australian 18 Footers League, was asked about the introduction of exciting, young crews into the League's fleet this season. "This year again sees a number of new young talented sailors join the club from success in other classes, which puts the fleet in a healthy position with great breadth and depth of competition."
"Last year at the JJ's we saw extremely good competition throughout the field, and I expect this entire year to be no different with the class continuing to attract young talent whilst some of the old guard lives on (now us!)"
How does Jordan think The Kitchen Maker will go in such a strong fleet, young fleet? "We intend to give the young competitive teams a run for their money - especially on those up range days."
So why does Darren continue to sponsor the 18s, "I've always loved watching and sailing the 18s and I'm hoping to do a few full races this season if the team is ever desperate for an extra crew member. I might even have to convince Jordan to take a day off and let me have a steer - provided it's under 12 knots and Josh and Jacob are feeling patient!"
"The 18s have a fantastic following, and over the years I've met many clients through sailing and our sponsorship. It has been great for The Kitchen Maker, but just as importantly, I genuinely love the boats and being involved with the class."
"Our sponsorship has also helped us build a strong relationship with Caesarstone, which has been on board with us from the beginning."
"It's great to have the experience of Jordan, Josh and Jacob back in the boat after taking a break to focus on their young families. They're a talented and experienced team, and I'm really looking forward to watching them race this season."
"We're very proud to be entering our 17th consecutive season sponsoring an 18ft skiff at the League."