Two more outstanding performances by the brilliant Yandoo crew of John Winning Jr, Fang Warren and Lewis Brake, on Sydney Harbour today, has given the defending champion team an almost unbeatable lead in the JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff World Championship, presented by The Winning Group, with only two more races still to be sailed on the weekend.
In a SSE 15knots breeze, Yandoo took out the first race (Race 6) by 22s from Lazarus Capital Partners (Tom Cunich, Marc Chapon and Tim Westwood) with Vaikobi (Kirk Mitchell, Andrew Stephenson and Daniel Barnett) a further 39s back in third place.
Queensland’s Big Foot Bags & Covers (Dave Hayter) finished in fourth place ahead of Shaw and Partners Financial Services-Australia (Keagan York), Sixt (Jacob Marks), Smeg (Ash Rooklyn), GC Sails (Scott Cunningham, Queensland), Fisher & Paykel (Brett Van Munster) and The Kitchen Maker (Lachlan Steel) in tenth place.
Yandoo’s performance in the latter race (Race 7) was even more impressive as the crew were once again faultless to defeat a very hard challenging Shaw and Partners Financial Services-Australia by 42s with Shaw and Partners Financial Services-New Zealand (Eli Liefting) another 31s back in third place.
The German Black Knight team, led by Heinrich von Bayern, finished in fourth place ahead of Sixt, GC Sails, The Kitchen Maker, Brisbane 18 Footers (Josh Sloman, Queensland), Smeg and New Zealand’s ASCC (Campbell Stanton).
After each boat has discarded its worst race result to date, the scoreboard shows the net positions as Yandoo leading on 8 points, followed by Shaw and Partners Financial services-Australia on 19. GC Sails is third on 34 points, followed by Black Knight on 41, Shaw and Partners Financial Services-New Zealand on 44.
Three teams, Lazarus Capital Partners, Vaikobi and Sixt are all equal on 45 points, followed by Smeg on 47 and in tenth place ASCC on 49 points.
Race 6: Racing today was over the South-Short Course, and it ws Big Foot Bags & Covers which grabbed an early 13s lead on the beat from the start in Athol Bay to the weather mark off Clark Island. Andoo-USA (Mikey Radziejowski) was in second place, ahead of Sixt, Lazarus and Shaw and Partners-Australia.
The spinnaker run to Chowder Bay was a very tight angle which forced teams to drop their spinnakers. The Big Foot crew were under pressure but held off the challengers to reach the Chowder Bay mark with a 4s advantage over Lazarus, Andoo-USA, Vaikobi, Yandoo, Sixt, The Kitchen Maker, Shaw and Partners-Australia and GC Sails.
The next leg was a beat across the harbour to the mark off Shark Island and the contest was close as Yandoo closed on Big Foot and Lazarus. Experienced crew work won out for the Yandoo team which took the lead and headed for Athol Bay under spinnaker ahead of a group including Big Foot, Lazarus, Sixt, Vaikobi, Andoo-USA and Shaw and Partners-Australia.
Yandoo held a 10s lead over Lazarus at the end of the spinnaker run but was under pressure on the next beat to Clark Island. Lazarus actually crossed Yandoo but the champion crew came back strongly to re-take the lead and head for the finish back at Athol Bay with a 9s margin over a determined Lazarus team.
Race 7: The young Queensland crew on Brisbane 18 Footers led from the start but more wonderful crew work from the Yandoo’s crew saw them. 20s ahead of Shaw and Partners-New Zealand with the Brisbane 18 Footers back in third place ahead of Fisher & Paykel. They were closely followed by a group including Lazarus, Sixt, Shaw and Partners-Australia, The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines (Hugo Stoner) and GC Sails.
The spinnaker run to Chowder Bay in this race was far more predictable than the earlier race and the New Zealand Shaw and Partners challenged strongly the test Yandoo to the limit. The kiwi team got to within 17s of Yandoo but from that point in the race the defending champs were never headed.
Race officials shortened the course to eliminate the final spinnaker run from Clark Island to Athol Bay and Yandoo crossed the finish line in lighter wind to score a comfortable 42s victory.
The experience of the Yandoo crew is dominant and the trio rarely make a mistake (if ever) and there looks to be no competitor in the fleet that will be able to stop them from taking out a third consecutive Giltinan World championship.
The Host Club, Australian 18 Footers League’s spectator ferry will follow all races and ferry tickets may be purchased via this link Buy Ferry Tickets SailMedia will livestream all the action from the course, along with expert commentary and viewing of the coverage of Race 8 will be available on
http://youtube.com/video/vZeu7nCTdOU/livestreaming
Race 8, along with coverage of all previous racing, can be viewed on
https://www.youtube.com/@18footersTV/streams
Remaining dates for JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff World Championship, presented by the Winning Group, are:
Saturday March 14, 2026 Race 8, Bill Kite Memorial Trophy
Sunday March 15, 2026 Race 9, Ribbon and JJ Giltinan Trophy
Frank Quealey – Australian 18 Footers League Ltd.
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