Classic Skiffs to line up for an Australian Championship

Five “Classic” 18 footers are set to battle it out for the inaugural Australian Classic 18ft Skiff title over the Anzac Day long weekend.

The Classic 18s have been a mainstay of senior sailing at the Brisbane 18 Footers for some years now, and will be joined by “Bottle Mart” from Sydney to compete for the first Australian Championship.

Start times will be near to the Historical 18s, and will be sailing on the same course.

The Classic 18ft Skiffs are loosely based on the Bruce Farr “classic” design from the 1970s.  There are two boats currently in the fleet of later vintage (“Argus Tuft” and “Apparently”, both are of composite construction), however the majority are older, plywood hulls (such as “Clockwork Orange”, “Pacemaker” and “Bottle Mart”).  None of the boats have the outrigger wings of fixed bowsprit style spinnaker poles of the modern 18s.