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Ducks Spinnaker
18ft Skiff
History
The 18ft Skiff has come a long way in more than 100 years of continuous development. From heavy boats carrying a crew of ten or more, to today's high-tech, light-weight, high performance design. Parts of the history of the early days of skiff sailing, between 1892 and 1945, is found on the pages of the Australian 18 Footers League.
The modern 18 ft Skiff
Today there are two modern hull designs racing. The "International 18" is based on a design by Iain Murray, while the B18 was designed by Julian Bethwaite. The Australian 18 Footer League allows only the International 18, with the annual JJ Giltinan International Trophy contended with the one design Murray hull. The European Class Association allows both designs to compete against each other.
Although there are differences in the sailing aspects of the two designs, their measurements are very close, with a waterline length of 18 ft (5.49 m) and an average beam of 6 to 8 feet (1.83 to 2.44 m), not including the wings. With wings the maximum beam is 14 feet for the "International 18" and 18 feet for Open 18's sailed at Sydney Flying Squadron. When the boat is dry it should weigh not less than 375 lb (170 Kg) including wings, foils (centreboard and rudder) and the number one rig of sails, spars and ropes.
In the 1980s and 90's wings were widened to the extreme - some boats having maximum beam of 26 feet. Such wings proved unmanageable, with the crews too much on the brink of disaster for consistent success.
While true 18' skiffs have no sail area or mast height limitations, the limit that the 18 footer League has specified for their one-design sub class is a maximum mast height of 33 ft (10 m), truly powerful on an 18' hull. The entire rig, which supports sails with unlimited area, is controlled by three trapezing crew members.
The boat will plane upwind starting at a true windspeed of about 8 knots, and off the wind can reach speeds of double the true windspeed. This is possible through the very high sail-carrying power to total weight ratio, which is above 30% with the no. 1 rig and approaches 40% with the no. 3 rig (for reference, a 30% ratio is needed to plane upwind and a 10% ratio is needed to plane at all. Most cruising boats have a ratio under 5%).
Open 18' Skiff Synergy!
Open 18 Skiff Synergy! fitted with hydrofoils
Future evolutions of skiffs may incorporate hydrofoils, such as Synergy! skippered by Michael Carter above.
In Australia, there is a fleet of approximately 20-25 18 Foot Skiffs at the "League" club in Sydney. Sydney's other traditional 18 Foot Skiff club, the Sydney Flying Squadron, has a small fleet and there are several boats in the state of Queensland.
However, the 18 ft skiff is not without its dangers. The high speed makes it hard to handle and requires extremely fast reflexes and a broad awareness of your surroundings in order to anticipate changes. Major accidents can occur with inexperienced and experienced sailors alike.
The 18 ft skiff is currently one of the fastest monohulls on earth. With its massive sail-plan of over 100 square meters on the no. 1 rig and three crew members on trapeze it can outperform nearly every monohull on the water. It combines extreme speeds with an element of danger and is thought by many to be one of the biggest spectacles in sailing.
Each year the JJ Giltinan International Trophy is contested on Sydney Harbour to decide the de-facto world champion of the class. Typically the event was dominated by Australia and occasionally won by New Zealand, but in recent years entrants such as the USA's Howie Hamlin have taken out the title, displaying the classes growing international appeal.
The Historical 18 Skiff
In Sydney and Brisbane Australia there has been a revival of the early days of 18 skiff sailing. Replicas of famous 18 skiffs from the period of 1930 through to 1950 have been built using original techniques, including wooden hulls and spars, gaff rigs, several-piece spinnaker poles and unrestricted sail area. These boats race under the rules of the Australian Historical Skiff Association, which bans wings, trapezes, cleats for controlling ropes for the mainsail, jib and spinnaker, and most of the other modern equipment which makes sailing easier.
The class has proved very popular with former sailors of modern 18 skiffs who, to quote a class champion John Winning, are looking for a challenge because he modern boats have become too easy to sail.
The historical 18 skiffs have a crew of between 6 and 9, which often leaves an opportunity for visiting sailors to have a ride.The AHSSA website listed below has more details.
At present the class is raced out of the Sydney Flying Squadron in Sydney and the Brisbane 18 Footers Sailing Club Inc. There are also bi-annual challenges against the New Zealand 18 Kauri-Clinker M Class.
Notes
^ See section 16.10 of Bethwaite, Frank (2007). High Performance Sailing. Adlard Coles Nautical. ISBN 978 0 7136 6704 2.
See also
12ft Skiff
The following book provides a comprehensive description of technological developments up to 1993 that have been incorporated in the 18 ft Skiff and other high-performance boats: Bethwaite, Frank (first published in 1993; new edition in 1996, reprinted in 2007). High Performance Sailing. Waterline (1993), Thomas Reed Publications (1996, 1998, and 2001), and Adlard Coles Nautical (2003 and 2007). ISBN 978 0 7136 6704 2. The book also covers the history of the 18 ft Skiff and of high-performance sailing in general, as well as the sailing techniques required to achieve high performance.
External links
Sydney Flying Squadron
Australian 18 Footer League
European 18 Foot Skiff Class Association
UK 18 Foot Skiff Class Association
Australian Historic Sailing Skiff Association
v d e
Classes of sailing dinghy, scow, sharpie and skiff (worldwide)
29er skiff 29erXX skiff 405 ("Four-oh-five") 420 ("Four-twenty") 470 ("Four-seventy") 49er 505 ("Five-oh-five") 3000 A-Scow Access 2.3 Access Liberty Adventuress Albacore ASC Astus 14.1 Australian Sharpie Banshee Beaufort Beetle Cat Bermuda Fitted Dinghy Blaze Blue Jay Bosun British Moth BP18 Buccaneer 18 Butterfly Buzz Byte C-Lark Cadet Cape Cod Frosty Cherokee Cherub Comet Contender Corsair Coypu Dabchick Daring Dart Day Sailer Drascombe E-Scow El Toro Enterprise Escape Extra Fatty Knees Finn Fireball Firefly Fly Flying Ant Flying Dutchman Flying Eleven Flying Junior Flying Scot Force 5 Frog GP14 Graduate Gull Heron Highlander Holdfast Trainer Hornet Idle-along IDRA14 International Canoe International Twelve International 14 Invitation 12ft Skiff 13ft skiff 16ft Skiff 18ft Skiff Jacksnipe Javelin Jersey Skiff Jet 14 Jollyboat JY15 Lark Laser Laser Bahia Laser Radial Laser 4.7 Laser 2 Laser 2000 Laser 3000 Laser 4000 Laser 5000 Laser Pico Laser SB3 Laser Stratos Laser Vago Laser Vortex Laser Funboat Lelievlet Lido 14 Lightning Manly Junior MG14 Marlin Merlin Rocket Minto Miracle Mirror Mirror 16 Mistral Moth Musto Performance Skiff Mutineer 15 Naples Sabot National 12 Norfolk Punt NS14 O'Day DaySailer OK Dinghy Optimist Osprey Otter P Class Pacer Payne-Mortlock sailing canoe Pegasus Pelican Pirate Penguin Phantom Precision 15 Puddle Duck Racer RS200 RS300 RS400 RS500 RS600 RS700 RS800 RS Feva RS Vareo RS Vision RS K6 Sabot Sabre Salcombe Yawl Sea Bright Scorpion Scow (A, C, E, MC, M16, 17) Snark Snipe Solo Spiral Starling Streaker Sunburst Sunfish Tadpole Tasar Thames A Class Rater Thistle Tinker Traveller Tinker Star Traveller Topper Topper Topaz Topper Topaz Taz Topper Topaz Magno Topper Topaz Omega Topper Topaz Vibe Topper Topaz Xenon Turnabout Turtle Twinkles 10 & 12 Vagabond Vanguard 15 Vaurien Wanderer Wayfarer Windmill Windy X boat Winkle Brig Woodpussy Y flyer Zeddie Zephyr Zoom 8
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Et Two, Nerone
The Rolex Farr 40 Worlds lived up to its billing as the big boat one-design championship against which all others are measured. The 2010 series was decided on the final race of the final day, raced in front of a huge spectator fleet from rubber ducks to 25 metre sport fishers.
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