Please select your home edition
Edition
Sea Sure 2025

ACO 14th Musto Skiff World Championship 2025, Sydney, Australia - Overall

by Paul Newman 11 Jan 05:10 GMT 2-10 January 2025

The final day of the ACO 14th Musto Skiff 2025 Worlds started with Jon Newman and Andy Tarboton on equal points. Andy was sitting at the top of the leaderboard on countback, and Rob Richardson was just a couple of points behind them, so whoever won the day would most likely win the overall regatta.

For Race 10, the day started with a small delay to allow a rain front to push through. We were then released to launch, and the fleet sailed out to the start line in a light and shifty easterly, which threatened to shake up the places at the top.

Jon and Andy kept in very close contact with each other throughout the start sequence. Andy came out on top, but Rob managed to slip through and take the win, with Andy ending up in second and Jon ending up in fourth. Separating the two was the ever-consistent Jono Shelley, who came out in third place.

Race 11, the final race of the 2025 regatta, saw Rob get a bad start and then take a swim on a tack on the first beat, pushing him back down the fleet. Andy continued his consistent day of fierce and focused racing, rounding in the top couple with Jon and Rob a little way back. Impressively, Rob recovered downwind to push his way back up the fleet into the top group. He continued to work his way through the fleet, determined to do all that he could to close the points gap further and secure a potential win. However, Andy remained ahead of him, finishing in third, with Jono Shelley in second and Matthias Houvenagel in first, leaving Rob to take fourth place in the final race.

Despite Andy finishing in third place for the final race, it was just enough for him to secure the World Championship title from Rob, who finished in second place overall, beating Jon on countback to see Jon rounding out the podium in third place overall.

At the close of the ACO 14th Musto Skiff World Championship 2025, the top 10 overall places were:

1st place - Andy Tarboton (RSA)
2nd place - Robert Richardson (GBR)
3rd place - Jon Newman (AUS)
4th place - Matthias Houvenagel (AUS)
5th place - Jono Shelley (GBR)
6th place - Eddie Bridle (GBR)
7th place - Graeme Oliver (GBR)
8th place - Danny Boatman (GBR)
9th place - Jamie Hilton (GBR)
10th place - Alexander Greil (SUI)

Full results can be found here.

The 2025 category winners were:

Legend
1st place - Andrew Gould (GBR)
2nd place - Iain Morton (GBR)
3rd place - David Taylor (AUS)

Grand Master
1st place - Wayne Bates

Master
1st place - Graeme Oliver (GBR)
2nd place - Jamie Hilton (GBR)
3rd place - Yaroslav Petrov (ARM)

Youth
1st place: Rob Richardson (GBR)
2nd place: Casey Bates (AUS)
3rd Josh Sloman (AUS)

A massive congratulations to South African Andy Tarboton, who sailed a fantastic series here in Sydney, showing skill and composure all week. We've had an amazing turnout of sailors and families for this regatta, racing on the iconic Sydney Harbour, with just over half the fleet coming from overseas and six nations being represented. In the mix, we also had an ex-Olympian and a current AUS 18 Foot Skiff sailor and several former World Champions in various classes from around the world. We have a fantastic fleet in the Musto Skiff class and a great group of people to race against and spend time with.

Thanks to our 2025 regatta hosts, Woollahra Sailing Club, their race team, and all their amazing volunteers who made this event possible. Also, thanks to the B14 class, who teamed up with us for this regatta to share the racecourse and the venue space for some excellent socials across the week.

We are also incredibly grateful for all the continued support of our long-time Worlds regatta sponsor, ACO Group, as well as our class sponsor, Musto, who provided all our event prizes and an exclusive event t-shirt for every competitor. The team at Ovington Boats also supported the class, arranging spares and shipments for the prizes. We also had fantastic support from J&J Robertson Sons and ANJ Container Services, who helped both the Musto Skiff and B14 classes with shipment and storage needs on the Australian side. A final thanks to our media team from Down Under Sail, who provided all the video and photos for the event, including multiple iconic shots of the fleet racing alongside the infamous Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge!

Our next World Championship will be in 2026, with the location and dates to be announced soon! We look forward to seeing you all there!

More event information at mustoskiff.com/2025-worlds

Related Articles

Noble Marine Musto Skiff UK Nationals overall
Eddie Bridle bags the UK Musto Skiff champion title at Hayling Island A lovely start to the day with the sun shining, blue skies, and the promise of three more championship races to decide the UK National Champion. Posted on 22 Sep
Noble Marine Musto Skiff UK Nationals day 3
Eddie Bridle rises to the top of the chasing pack Racing today was held inside the harbour, owing to the fruity forecast predicting a hazardous return to Harbour over the infamous 'bar' in 20 kts and an ebb tide. Posted on 20 Sep
Noble Marine Musto Skiff UK Nationals day 2
Andy Tarboton moves to the top of the leaderboard It's day 2 at the UK Musto Skiff Nationals at Hayling Island, and with the wind settling in at 5-8 knots from the southeast, it was going to be a tricky day on the water with plenty of snakes and ladders to be found. Posted on 19 Sep
Noble Marine Musto Skiff UK Nationals day 1
Ben Clegg wins the day with three bullets Race one started with a fresh 18-22 knots. Everyone was a little scared of the big waves. So, unbelievably for the first race of a championship, we were all behind the line! Posted on 18 Sep
Musto Skiffs at the Loch Lomond SC Dinghy Open
Rob Richardson marches to victory by 'yon bonnie banks' of Loch Lomond In all my time sailing in Scotland, I've only once, I think, sailed at Loch Lomond, and I'm pretty sure a lively party in the superbly charismatic club bar is the reason for my hazy memoirs. Posted on 14 Sep
Musto Skiff tops an 87-boat entry at Loch Lomond
Rob Richardson wins Sailjuice Challenge event Rob Richardson won the Loch Lomond Challenge last weekend, 6 & 7 September, event No.3 of this season's inaugural Magic Marine Sailjuice Challenge. Posted on 11 Sep
Musto Skiff Chanonry Open
The racing was incredibly close throughout the fleet As has become tradition, the Scottish and Northern Skiffs migrated to Chanonry Sailing Club on the beautiful Black Isle in early August for their most northerly circuit event. Posted on 10 Aug
61st Medway Marathon
Musto Skiffs are normally very competitive in this event but it was not their day On the morning of Sunday 3rd August, the weather conditions were perfect with a South Westerly breeze to welcome our visitors to Medway Yacht Club's 61st Medway Marathon. The day started early for those visitors, some of whom had travelled from afar. Posted on 7 Aug
Eddie Bridle wins the Musto Skiff Europeans
Championship hosted as part of Warnemünde Woche Eddie Bridle has won the 2025 Musto Skiff European Championship in Germany, landing his first major title in the class. Posted on 15 Jul
Musto Skiffs at 63rd Lord Birkett Memorial Trophy
One of those events where you see people you've not seen in years The Birkett has been a long-term favourite with the Musto Skiff fleet, where, given the right conditions, it suits the skiff rather nicely—enough so that we've seen two winners over the years with Ian Turnbull in 2017 and Dylan Noble in 2022. Posted on 10 Jul