The young Sixt 18ft skiff team is optimistic about a more settled start to the 2025-26 season at the Australian 18 Footers League, following the last-minute rush in 2024. This marks their third season together, and they aim to achieve even better results than the previous two seasons.
Since the beginning of the 2023-24 season on Sydney Harbour, the team, consisting of Jacob Marks (skipper), Alex Marinelli (sheet), and Matt Doyle (bow), has been competitive, winning the 2023 Spring Championship series and finishing 12th in both the 2024 and 2025 JJ Giltinan World championships.
Their initial season was with The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines skiff, where both Alex and Matt had prior experience, including Alex’s time as skipper of Appliancesonline and The Oak Double Bay-4 Pines before Jacob joined them in 2023.
At the time, Jacob was a 16-year-old student at The Scots College, who had recently competed in the 29er World Championship in Weymouth (UK) with his schoolmate Ben Crafoord, finishing seventh overall in the gold fleet. Jacob’s talent was recognised by Alex, who had previously coached him, leading to Jacob taking the helm in their first season together.
Their success led to a transition to the Sixt skiff for the 2024-25 season, as part of the Australian 18 Footers League’s initiative to support young talent in the class.
However, the Sixt skiff faced shipping delays after the 2024 18 footer event on Lake Garda, resulting in the team having to catch up on setup time for the start of the 2024-25 season. Upon finally taking control of the boat, they had limited time to prepare before the first race, requiring them to adjust and practice during competitive races.
Compounding the challenge, Jacob was in his final school year and had to miss early races for his HSC exams. Alex commented on the difficulties, stating, “It was extremely difficult but we came through it and recorded some good performances. This year we’ve had time to prepare the boat and make the rigs faster, and we’ve also had time to do some practice sails.”
He added, “We are very determined to perform more consistently at the top of the fleet. We proved we could do it last year; it was just the consistency and lack of time that we feel was the problem.”
The first race of the 2025-26 Australian 18 Footers League season, Race 1 of the Spring Championship, is scheduled to be sailed on Sydney Harbour on Sunday, October 12.
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