International boost for 2026 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff World Championship

Harbour traffic and the 18s © SailMedia

USA challenge adds another country to the 2026 championship

The 2026 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff World Championship, presented by The Winning Group, received a last-minute boost with the entry of the first USA 18 footer team to contest the championship for seven years. The fleet of twenty-seven teams representing six countries will now contest the 2026 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff World Championship, presented by The Winning Group, which begins on Sydney Harbour on Saturday.

Interestingly, the influence behind the entry was John Winning Jr, the skipper of the championship favourite Yandoo, who will loan his 2022 and 2023 world champion Andoo skiff to three US sailors, who will race it as Andoo-USA in the nine-race regatta.

The Andoo-USA team is Mikey Radziejowski, David Liebenberg and Evan Sjostedt.

The Andoo team pass Vaikobi downwind- 2025 SIXT Spring Championship - photo © SailMedia

Winning's generous support is a positive move and a great boost for international 18 footers, but now that the arrangement has been completed his total focus will centre on taking his father's Yandoo to a third consecutive victory in the Giltinan world championship.

John (aka Herman) Winning previously won the 2023 championship in Andoo, and was runner-up in 2019 and 2021, but after taking a break this season has only recently taken over the role of skipper of Yandoo when SailGP commitments of the former skipper, Tom Needham, prevented him from contesting the 2026 worlds.

18ft Skiff Season Point Score Race 19 - John Winning Jr keeps an eye on the challenging Rag and Famish - photo © SailMedia

Since taking over the role less than one month ago, Winning, along with the talented Fang Warren and Lewis Brake, has already shown he has lost none of his skill when he steered Yandoo to two convincing victories in the Australian 18 Footers League Club Championship.

While the overall competitiveness of the fleet is better than it has been since the Pandemic, the powerful Yandoo team rarely makes a mistake and appears to have an edge over its main rivals at the moment.

Supporting this belief, since Fang and Lewis came together in the 2023-24 season Yandoo has won two Giltinan world championships, one Australian and two NSW championships.

Yandoo's crew drive hard - 18ft Skiff Club Championship Race 14 and Season Point Score Race 20 - photo © SailMedia

The team is particularly strong in most constant wind conditions if there is any vulnerability it could only be in the less-predictable races over the windward-leeward courses in lighter breezes.

Yandoo must be considered a certainty to fill one of the podium positions but nominating the other two is far more difficult and there appears to be little between ten teams if wind conditions are good. It should produce some of the best 18 footer racing seen on Sydney Harbour for several seasons.

Following their recent Australian Championship win, the Balmain team of Henry Larkings, Tom Grimes and Lachlan Pryor must rate as the more likely to stop Yandoo's three-in-a-row Giltinan championship victory.

New Australian champion, Balmain - photo © SailMedia

The Balmain skiff has shown she has the boat speed to match Yandoo. Keeping errors to a minimum and consistency over a range of conditions seems to be what's required for the Balmain crew.

Germany's Black Knight team of Heinrich von Bayern and the Martin brothers will be making their sixth challenge. It is their most professional campaign; they have a brand new hull and equipment and have had their longest pre series preparation on the Sydney Harbour course.

Vaikobi leads Black Knight - 18ft Skiff Club Championship Race 14 and Season Point Score Race 20 - photo © SailMedia

Scott Cunningham's GC Sails heads a strong 3-boat Queensland challenge, which also includes Big Foot Bags & Covers (Dave Hayter) and Brisbane 18 Footers (Josh Sloman). The GC Sails team was very impressive in the Australian championship just two months ago and will be very hard to beat in the right conditions if it reproduces that performance at the JJs.

One of the highlights of the championship should be the battle between the two Shaw and Partners Financial Services teams representing Australia and New Zealand. Both have brand new skiffs and have undeniable chances of making it onto the podium. With the added incentive of each to become the better Shaw and Partners inter-dominion team, this should produce a must-watch personal battle.

18ft Skiff Season Point Score Race 19 - Rag and Famish crew after rounding the weather mark - photo © SailMedia

A second 'personal battle' within the overall championship is the friendly rivalry between two former 29er champion team mates, Ben Crafoord and Jacob Marks, who will lead two talented young teams on Rag & Famish Hotel and Sixt respectively.

Emphasising the depth of strength in the fleet, at least four other teams with race-winning chances are Lazarus Capital Partners (Tom Cunich), Vaikobi (Kirk Mitchell), Smeg (Ash Rooklyn) and Club Marine (Emma Rankin) who have all been in the leading group throughout the 2025-26 championship season.

There is no spectator ferry following Friday's Invitation Race but you can still catch the SailMedia live stream video coverage.

There will be a spectator ferry following each of the seven race days of the championship and tickets may be purchased through Buy Ferry Tickets

SailMedia will provide a live stream coverage every race day during the 2026 JJ Giltinan 18ft Skiff World Championship, presented by The Winning Group.

It is also available through www.youtube.com/@18footersTV/streams

Race Dates:

• Friday March 6, 2026 Invitation Race
• Saturday March 7, 2026 Race 1, George Calligeros Trophy
• Sunday March 8, 2026 Race 2, Cliff Monkhouse Memorial Trophy
• Tuesday March 10, 2026 Races 3 & 4, Alan Cole Memorial Trophy
• Wednesday March 11, 2026 Races 5 & 6, AJ Reynolds Trophy
• Thursday March 12, 2026 Race 7, Bill Miller Memorial Trophy
• Saturday March 14, 2026 Race 8, Bill Kite Memorial Trophy
• Sunday March 15, 2026 Race 9, Ribbon and JJ Giltinan Trophy

List of Entries: