18ft Skiffs – Queen of the Waves

Emma Collins is the 2026 18 footer Queen of the Waves after her Vaikobi team of Kirk Mitchell, Andrew Stephenson and Daniel Barnett raced away to an all-the-way victory in the annual event which had to be rescheduled following last Sunday’s cancellation, due to safety reasons, due to very strong winds.

Club Marine (Emma Rankin, Jed Cruikshank, Brandon Buyink and Kate Spithill) came home in second place 1m9s behind Vaikobi with Balmain (Jack Macartney, Tom Grimes, Lachlan Prior and Madison Howarth) a further 37s back in third place.

The four-person Vaikobi team grabbed an early lead in light wind conditions and held a 20s lead from Smeg (Ash Rooklyn) at the weather mark, but the Smeg team fought back strongly on the short spinnaker run back to the bottom mark on the first of the three-lap course, to trail by just 5s.

Vaikobi was certainly superior on the following beat and again opened up a 25s margin over Smeg, 18 Footers Bar & Restaurant (Simon Nearn).  Club Marine was fourth, followed by Balmain and Shaw and Partners Financial Services (Keagan York).

When the leaders approached the bottom mark on the second lap, Vaikobi still held a clear lead but capsizes to both Smeg and 18 footers Bar and Restaurant near the mark left the Vaikobi team with an unbeatable lead over the final lap to the finish.

Each team was reduced back to the regular three-person team for the latter race which was Race 13 of the Australian 18 Footers League’s Club Championship.

The series leader Yandoo, today skippered by John Winning Jr with Fang Warren on the sheet and Lewis Brake in the bow, soon took the lead after the start and quickly opened up a clear lead on the fleet after her nearest challenger lost a crew member overboard only a few minutes into the race.

At the end of the race, Yandoo crossed the finish line 2m28s ahead of Lazarus Capital Partners (Tom Cunich, Marc Chapon and Flynn Twomey) with Vaikobi just 6s further back in third place.

Rag & Famish Hotel (Ben Crafoord) came home in fourth place ahead of Shaw and Partners Financial Services, Balmain, Smeg, Sixt (Jacob Marks), Club Marine and 18 Footers Bar & Restaurant.

It was soon apparent on the first beat to windward, that the champion Yandoo team was going to be hard to beat over the two-lap windward-leeward course but the team’s task became a lot easier when several of the chasing pack badly overlaid the first weather and Yandoo was 1m15s ahead of her nearest rival Lazarus.

While the race victory seemed inevitable for most of the journey, the battle for the next four placings was close and always in doubt as Lazarus, Vaikobi, Rag & Famish and Shaw and Partners put on a show for the spectators.

With just one more race to decide the club championship, Yandoo has an unbeatable lead with a total of 28 points, followed by Balmain on 57, Rag & Famish Hotel on 66, Sixt on 82, Vaikobi 89 and Smeg on 92 points.

Yandoo’s easy win also gave the backmarker team a win in the club’s Season Point Score event which was held in conjunction with the club championship.

Race 19 of the League’s Season Point Score will be conducted over a 3-buoys course on Sydney Harbour next Sunday.  The usual spectator ferry will follow the race and SailMedia will live stream all the action with expert commentary from the course.