JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff World Championship 2026 presented by The Winning Group - Lay day 2
by Frank Quealey 13 Mar 08:29 UTC
6-15 March 2026
While the defending champion Yandoo team (John Winning Jr, Fang Warren and Lewis Brake) is in a strong position on the scoreboard to retain the title, the final two races of the JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff World Championship, presented by The Winning Group, on Sydney Harbour this weekend, the Shaw and Partners Financial Services-Australia team (Keagan York, Max Paul and Tom Anderson) is still close enough to keep Yandoo's crew on their toes.
There was a similar situation in the 2025 series when Yandoo held a lead going into the final race but had to sweat it out when Keagan York's Finport Finance almost grabbed a victory in extremely light winds on the final day. Keagan is now the skipper of Shaw and Partners; can he reverse last year's result?
The final position on the podium could also be "up for grabs" if Queensland's GC Sails (Scott Cunningham, Joel Turner and Dave Cunningham) don't put two good results together as there are seven teams, separated by just 8 points waiting to fill the vacant position.
Regardless of what may happen, the 27-boat fleet representing six countries will provide plenty of action and exciting racing over the long, traditional-style harbour courses.
The two remaining races are:
Saturday March 14, 2026 Race 8, Bill Kite Memorial Trophy
Sunday March 15, 2026 Race 9, Ribbon and JJ Giltinan Trophy
The Host Club, Australian 18 Footers League's spectator ferry will follow both races and ferry tickets can be purchased online.
SailMedia will livestream all the action from the course, along with expert commentary and viewing of the coverage of Race 8 will be available on youtube.com/video/vZeu7nCTdOU/livestreaming
Race 8, along with coverage of all previous racing, can be viewed on www.youtube.com/@18footersTV/streams
Results after race 7:
| Pos | Team (Crew) | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | Yandoo (Herman Winning, Fang Warren, Lewis Brake) | 1 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| 2 | Shaw and Partners AUS (Keagan York, Max Paul, Tom Anderson) | 2 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 19 |
| 3 | GC Sails (Scott Cunningham, Joel Turner, David Cunningham) | 7 | 2 | 13 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 34 |
| 4 | Black Knight (Heinrich von Bayern, Tom Martin, Andy Martin) | 11 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 4 | 41 |
| 5 | Shaw and Partners NZL (Eli Liefting, Sam Street, Josh Schon) | 5 | 28 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 14 | 3 | 44 |
| 6 | Vaikobi (Kirk Mitchel, Andrew Stephenson, Daniel Barnett) | 10 | 3 | 20 | 6 | 11 | 3 | 12 | 45 |
| 7 | Sixt (Jacob Marks, Alex Marinelli, Matt Doyle) | 21 | 7 | 12 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 45 |
| 8 | Lazarus (Thomas Cunich, Marc Chapon, Tim Westwood) | 9 | 28 | 6 | 13 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 45 |
| 9 | Smeg (Ash Rooklyn, Josh Porebski, Niall Morrow) | 12 | 14 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 7 | 9 | 47 |
| 10 | ASCC (Campbell Stanton, Ollie Gilmour, Pat Morgan) | 19 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 23 | 10 | 49 |
| 11 | Balmain (Henry Larkings, Tom Grimes, Lachlan Pryor) | 8 | 9 | 11 | 28 | 6 | 13 | 11 | 58 |
| 12 | The Kitchen Maker (Lachlan Steel, George Morton, Jerome Watts) | 6 | 28 | 2 | 16 | 18 | 10 | 7 | 59 |
| 13 | Rag & Famish (Ben Crafoord, Ryan Ewings, Max Nearn) | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 15 | 24 | 60 |
| 14 | Big Foot Bags and Covers (David Hayter, Trent Neighbour, Elliott Mahar) | 18 | 8 | 17 | 7 | 10 | 4 | 19 | 64 |
| 15 | Fisher and Paykel (Brett Van Munster, Tom Quigley, Logan Radford) | 4 | 13 | 14 | 28 | 22 | 9 | 13 | 75 |
| 16 | Brisbane 18 Footers Sailing Club (Joshua Sloman, Ben Roxburgh, Angus Barker) | 14 | 15 | 15 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 8 | 76 |
| 17 | Club Marine (Emma Rankin, Jed Cruikshank, Brandon Buyink) | 22 | 12 | 10 | 19 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 92 |
| 18 | Andoo USA (Michael Radziejowski, David Liebenberg, Daniel Roberts) | 13 | 16 | 28 | 28 | 12 | 11 | 15 | 95 |
| 19 | The Killer Coffee Co (Jordan Girdis, Max Vos, Nick Rozenauers) | 23 | 11 | 21 | 14 | 16 | 19 | 16 | 97 |
| 20 | The Royal Oak (Hugo Stoner, Zann Scrimgeour, Daniel Watson) | 15 | 28 | 18 | 18 | 20 | 18 | 20 | 109 |
| 21 | Bar Karate UK (lan Turnball, Harvey Hilary, Stuart Keegan) | 20 | 20 | 16 | 15 | 19 | 22 | 26 | 112 |
| 22 | Berlin Bears (Phillipp Nocke, Marceli Mierzw, Max Seydl) | 16 | 17 | 22 | 17 | 21 | 28 | 25 | 118 |
| 23 | Ballard Properties (Bec Hancock, Cam Walker, Ed Swain) | 25 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 25 | 21 | 21 | 124 |
| 24 | Badnavn The Vikings (Jesper Brondum, Darren McKavanagh, Uffe Andersen) | 17 | 28 | 26 | 22 | 23 | 25 | 22 | 135 |
| 25 | Akarana Eatery (Monty Alderson, Levi Jenkins, Harry Wilson) | 27 | 21 | 24 | 21 | 24 | 24 | 23 | 137 |
| 26 | Gotcha4Life (Kade Morgan, Graeme Fairbairn, Isaac Marney) | 26 | 28 | 25 | 23 | 26 | 20 | 18 | 138 |
| 27 | 18 Footers B&R Racing Team (Luca Gambacorti, Nic Livermore, Max Herscovics) | 24 | 19 | 23 | 28 | 28 | 27 | 27 | 148 |