18ft Skiffs – Coming soon to Sydney Harbour

18ft Skiff Racing in Australia is back on Sydney Harbour on Sunday, 13 October when the Australian 18 Footers League opens the 2013-2014 Season with Race 1 of the 3-Buoys Challenge Series.

The unique 3-marker buoys system provided spectators with great racing at last year’s event and produced seven different winners in the seven races contested.

Overall winner in 2012 was Pure Blonde, which had a narrow points win from Asko Appliances and Thurlow Fisher Lawyers.

This year’s ‘Challenge’ highlights the first half of the 2013-2014 Season (pre Christmas-New Year) while the latter part features the Australian Championship and the international J.J. Giltinan Trophy Championship.

Major event dates for the 2013-2014 Season are:

3-Buoys Challenge, 13 October-8 December, 2013
Australian Championship, 12 January-9 February, 2014
J.J. Giltinan Trophy Championship, 28 February-9 March, 2014

The League is yet to announce its fleet for 2013-2014 however there are likely to be around 20 teams competing each week.

While most teams will be backing up from the 2012-2013 Season, there will be at least three high profile ‘new’ skippers joining the fleet for what promises to be another quality race program.

Frank Quealey
Australian 18 Footers League