18ft SKIFFS AT GARDA, 2026
Exciting young talent emerging in the 18s
Australia’s World 18ft skiff champion Yandoo team of John ‘Herman’ Winning, Fang Warren and Lewis Brake took out 2026 European and Mark Foy International Championships after four days of competition on Lake Garda, Italy and also showed that the Australian 18 Footers League has an emerging talent pool of young future champions in its Sydney Harbour fleet.
At the conclusion of the 20-boat regatta, Yandoo finished with a total of 15 points to take the championship by six points from Germany’s Black Knight (Heinrich Von Bayern, Thomas Martin and Andy Martin on 21 points. Rag (Ben Crafoord, Marc Chapon and Max Nearn) finished a further seven points further back on 28 points.
SIXT (Jacob Marks) finished in fourth place on 32 points, followed by Fisher & Paykel (Tom Cunich) on 58 and Hungary’s Be Light (Miklos Ujhelyi-Gaspar) on 67 points.
(A list of final placings and point scores is attached).
Black Knight grabbed the honours in the first race on Day 1, from the young Australian ‘Rag’ team, who were sailing the ex. Yandoo skiff in the regatta, which is now located permanently in Europe.
Hungary’s Be Light (Miklos Ujhelyi-Gaspar, Nobilis Demeter Ignac and Zsombor Szepfy) finished in third place
A lack of wind followed the race and all further racing was abandoned for the day.
According to the 2000 JJ Giltinan World champion and ex. Australian 18 Footers League President, John ‘Woody’ Winning, who is a spectator at the regatta, the format for Day 2 was changed from the usual afternoon racing and consequently the fleet lined up at 9am for the first race of the day.
‘Woody’ believed the change was brought about because of the extremely present hot European weather which has effected normal conditions.
In the first Day 2 race, the Ben Crafoord-led Rag team reversed the Day 1 result when the youngsters defeated Black Knight, followed by the current Giltinan champion Yandoo crew in third place.
The next race then reversed the result when Yandoo defeated Crafoord’s Rag. Fisher & Paykel (Tom Cunich, Logan Radford and Rory Cox) took third place ahead of SIXT, while Heinrich Von Bayern’s Black Knight had to be content with fifth place.
It was around 11am when the third race of Day 2 got under way in ‘flukey’ conditions, and this time it was a great result for the young Australian SIXT team of Jacob Marks, Alex Marinelli and Matt Doyle, which scored the victory in one of Germany’s former Black Knight skiffs.
The young SIXT team had elected to contest the start of the day’s racing in a borrowed local hull before rigging their Australian skiff during a break in the day’s racing action. Fisher & Paykel took second place ahead of Rag, Yandoo and Black Knight.
Following that race, there was a delay, to take advantage of the expected better afternoon breeze, before the fleet went out again for the next race.
Under the rules of the regatta, there was a maximum of four races to be sailed each day and it produced the fourth different winner when Heinrich Von Bayern’s Black Knight team won its second race of the regatta, ahead of John ‘Herman’ Winning’s Yandoo.
The SIXT team took advantage of the break to rig their Australian skiff and came home in third place ahead of Ben Crafoord in Rag.
With expectations of the usual south wind prevailing in the afternoon, racing on Day 3 didn’t include a morning contest in the hope that four races could be completed during excellent afternoon conditions.
In a 12-14 knot south wind, the Yandoo team took out the first race from Ben Crafoord’s Rag, followed by Black Knight and SIXT, which was in fourth place. Yandoo was successful again in the next race, sailed a in 12-knot south breeze, when it finished ahead of Black Knight, SIXT, Royal Oak (Emma Rankin) and Rag.
The SIXT team reversed this result in the day’s third race to come into contention overall. Yandooo came home in second place ahead of Black Knight, Rag, Germany’s Peroni (Philipp Nocke) and Fisher & Paykel.
A fourth race was staged to complete the day’s racing and once again the strong, experienced Yandoo team were successful to finish ahead of SIXT, Black Knight, Rag and Fisher & Paykel.
Going into the final day, after allowing for discards, a lot was going to depend on the outcome of the three scheduled races to see which one of the four major contenders, Yandoo on 11 points, Black Knight on 15, or SIXT and Rag, both on 18 points, would take out the title of overall champion for 2026.
With two victories from the three races sailed on the final day, the 2026 Giltinan World champion Yandoo team were worthy winners and completed a great double of international championships since John ‘Herman’ Winning took over as skipper of Yandoo earlier this year.
Victories by teenagers, Ben Crafoord and Jacob Marks and their young crews during the regatta was a wonderful outcome for the Australian 18 Footers League and its youth policy of introducing high quality competitors into its Sydney Harbour fleet.
Ben and Jacob go back several years to their school days when they caught the same school bus and raced against each other regularly in the 29er class. They ultimately teamed to contest the 2023 World 29er Championship at Weymouth, UK and finished in 7th place in a 50-boat fleet after winning the 205 team-entry Q (qualifying) series with five race wins in the seven race series.
It’s little wonder that they are already establishing very successful 18ft skiff careers.
Warren Sare, CEO of the Australian 18 Footers League and a competitor at the regatta, agrees about the youngsters. “Ben Crafoord and his team were sailing the ex Yandoo, a 13 year old skiff that now lives at Lake Garda. They had limited sailing time prior to the regatta, but as soon as they started racing, Ben, Marc and Max were always in the front pack battling for the win.”
“Credit also goes to Jacob Marks and his team on SIXT, which used a 1999 boat, and won a race on Day 2. After rigging their Australian skiff they won another race on Day 3 and were competitive at the head of the fleet, which is a huge achievement.”
He added, “As usual, the Australians are competitive at the 18 Footer Europeans. It is no surprise to see the Yandoo team on top of the leaderboard but they are being challenged by our youth teams on SIXT and The Rag and Famish Hotel.”
“The sailing conditions have been mixed with sailing in the Pele (morning breeze) as well as the Ora in the afternoon. Whether sailing in the very shifty Pele or the Ora which has ranged from easy sailing to quite windy (as seen in Race 5), these teams have been up the front battling for the win.”
As part of its ongoing youth policy, the League has built up a ‘fleet’ of four boats, which are now permanently located in Europe, and are used in regattas such as Garda to provide young competitors an opportunity to progress their experience in the class.