AUSTRALIAN 18FOOTERS LEAGUE CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP, RACE 1
First step on the way to the 2027 Giltinan Worlds
When Race 1 of the Australian 18 Footers League Club Championship is sailed on Sydney Harbour next Sunday (October 18) it will be the first championship-style race on the way to the 2027 Giltinan World Championship, which will be conducted in March.
Naturally, teams such as the current Giltinan world champion Yandoo (John Winning Jr, Fang Warren and Lewis Brake) and Australian champion Balmain (Henry Larkings, Tom Grimes and Locky Pryor) should feature prominently in the early season races but a lot of spectator interest will centre on the young and other ‘new’ combinations in the League’s fleet this year.
While not having the experience in the 18s of the Yandoo and Balmain teams, there are several teams with incredibly talented young Australian sailors who will improve each week as we progress towards March.
One such team is Rag & Famish Hotel (Ben Crafoord, Marc Chapon and Max Nearn). Ben and Max were part of The Rag’s team which finished 3rd in both the NSW and League Club championships in 2025-26 and 3rd in the Season Point Score.
Marc Chapon has joined Ben and Max this season and will add a lot more experience to an already successful combination.
Ben was naturally not prepared to over-state his aim for the coming season, “Our hope is just to keep on improving every week and do the Rag and Famish proud as Pete and the Calligeros family are such a great long term sponsor that has put so much into the sport, and they deserve a successful team.”
According to Ben, “Marc was fantastic in Garda and I can’t wait to do more sailing with him. He coached Jacob Marks and me a bit leading into the 29er worlds in 2023 and, of course, having Marc on the boat will help us get closer to being a competitive weight.
While the young Rag team may be giving away experience to much of the local and international fleets, they are certainly among the best 18ft skiff teams and will be challenging for a position on the podium at all the major regattas.
Three leading skippers from the 2025-26 season will have completely new crews with them this season and may take a little time before we get to see their best results.
Keagan York (Shaw and Partners Financial Services) lost out to Balmain on a count back last season at the Australian Championship then was again runner-up to Yandoo in the Giltinan worlds and will no doubt be at the head of the pack again in the major championships.
With two new crew members (Otto Henry and Jerome Watts) on board this may take a few weeks but the Shaw and Partners team will still be formidable in the first half of the season.
Tom Cunich (Lazarus Capital Partners) finished 4th in each of the two major championships last season but Tom also has two talented new crew members (Logan Radford and Jack Taylor) on board and will be one to watch in the months to come.
Third skipper with two new crew members is Kirk Mitchell (Vaikobi), who finished 8th and 6th respectively in the Giltinan worlds and Australian 2025-26 regattas. Kirk is joined by Max Vos and Paddy Bannon this year.
Three more successful 2025-26 teams Club Marine (Emma Rankin), Sixt (Jacob Marks and Smeg (Ash Rooklyn) were below their best last Sunday and each is expected to be back to their best for Sunday’s race.
On the other hand, a very good performer last Sunday was The Kitchen Maker, which finished 3rd in Race 1 of the SIXT Spring Championship. This team, Jordan Girdis, Josh Feldmann and Jacob Broom had previously sailed two seasons together but this was their first race back together after a two season break for family reasons.
The League has the ‘Royale’ spectator ferry to follow the racing, departing Double Bay Wharf at 2:15pm, where patrons can follow the fleet, soak up the views, and enjoy drinks and snacks from the on-board bar. It’s “a floating grandstand generations have called their own for generations”.
For those unable to take advantage of the spectator ferry, the professional SailMedia Livestream team will be on the course to capture all the action. The team have three cameras feeding into the livestream production; a drone, a main camera mounted on the roof of the Camera Cat, and a commentary team POV camera.
SailMedia’s coverage provides viewers with all the close up racing action, along with the beauty of the harbour and the city, all backed up by expert commentary from former competitors who are situated on the Camera Cat – in the centre of all the racing action.
The link to Sunday’s SailMedia coverage is http://youtube.com/video/