18ft Skiff NSW Championship starts on Sunday

by Frank Quealey 27 Nov 19:54 NZDT 1 December 2024

The Rag & Famish Hotel team of Harry Price, Max Paul and Finn Rodowicz goes into the opening day's racing of the 2024-25 NSW Championship next Sunday as favourite to take the title after an outstanding start to the Australian 18 Footers League season, winning the Sixt Spring Championship on Sydney Harbour last weekend.

Biggest threat to The Rag's team will definitely come from the defending champion Yandoo team which has had an interrupted start over the first six weeks, due to the team's regular skipper, John 'Woody' Winning missing a number of races due to an aggravating injury.

"Woody' will be hoping to return this weekend, however if he is unable, it's likely that the 2024 Giltinan World champion Micah Lane will skipper Yandoo, alongside Fang Warren and Lewis Brake.

The strong winds that have battered the fleet over most of the racing so far this season have played havoc with a number of teams as they prepare to build up a combination and acclimatise themselves to different boats.

Vaikobi during the Sixt Spring series - photo © SailMedia

One of those teams is Vaikobi (Kirk Mitchell, Andrew Stephenson and Daniel Barnett) which finished a very close third behind Yandoo and Andoo last year, but has battled a few costly incidents after a good start to 2024-25.

Kirk is naturally disappointed but says "I know what we are capable of and will keep on fighting."

Another yet to realise its potential over the first six weeks is Lazarus Capital Partners-sponsored team of Tom Cunich, Josh Feldmann and Paddy Bannon, which has shown good boat speed but lost the opportunity of good results by racing incidents with other competing skiffs.

Tom is not happy about some of the 'incidents' and now has the additional problem of losing Josh for the immediate future after he recently "sliced his leg on the side of the boat."

The young Sixt team looking for more consistency in the NSW titles - photo © SailMedia

The young Sixt team of Jacob Marks, Alex Marinelli and Matt Doyle is a third team to be disappointed with its start to 2024-25 season. According to Alex, "we are very disappointed that we have had to pull out of the past two races due to damage and have made the decision to just make sure we get around the full course this weekend."

Adding to the team's immediate problem, Alex added "our hull was damaged last Sunday now we have to get the builder to make the necessary repairs before Sunday."

Each of the three teams has the potential to turn things around quickly and next weekend will be a great opportunity for them to begin their championship campaign.

The NSW Championship will be conducted over the next four Sundays, with two races being sailed each day over specially-designed short courses which retain the concept of true harbour courses of approximately half the regular length.

Finport Finance and Vaikobi, two of the big chances for the NSW title - photo © SailMedia

NSW Championship race dates are:

Races 1 & 2 - Sunday - 1 December 2024
Races 3 & 4 - Sunday - 8 December 2024
Races 5 & 6 - Sunday - 15 December 2024
Races 7 & 8 - Sunday - 22 December 2024

While it's difficult to assess the potential of some of the major challengers because of the unkind winds to date, two of the teams showing enough to suggest that they are ready to take a victory if the big two teams don't perform to their best.

Balmain's Henry Larkings, Tom Grimes and Flynn Twomey performed consistently throughout the Sixt Spring Championship and certainly have the talent to make a serious challenge. Another one to watch is the 2022-23 Australian champion Finport Finance team led by Keagan York (skipper) and Phil Marshall (bow).